Why controlled rate freezing?
Controlled rate freezing (and the addition of cryoprotectant compounds) is essential for the recovery upon thawing for many cell types. With micro organisms and a few mammalian cell-types (spermatozoa, white blood cells) cells may be recovered following uncontrolled cooling or with primitive methods of controlling cooling (insulated boxes, Mr Frosty etc). With these cell types controlled rate freezing is observed to produce better survival on thawing and less sample to sample variation.
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