Sarcocystis falcatula Stiles

Additional information on this culture is available on the ATCC web site at www.atcc.org.

While every effort is made to insure authenticity and  reliability of strains on deposit, ATCC is not liable for damages arising from the misidentification or misrepresentation of cultures.

ATCC recommends that individuals contemplating commercial use of any culture first contact the originating investigator to negotiate an agreement.  Third party distribution of this culture is discouraged, since this practice has resulted in the unintentional spreading of contaminated cultures.

1.   Harvest the culture by gently agitating the contents of each flask.  Transfer all but approximately 1 ml of the culture medium to 15 ml plastic centrifuge tubes. Detach the    remaining tissue culture cells (infected and uninfected) by scraping the surface of the flask with a cell scraper. Pass the resulting cell suspension through a syringe equipped with a 27 gauge 1/2 in needle and pool this suspension with the culture fluid.

2.   Spin the cell suspensions at approximately 50 x g for 3 min, to remove the cellular debris.

3.   Transfer the spore suspensions (supernatants) to new 15 ml plastic centrifuge tubes.  Centrifuge at 1300 x g for 10 min.

4.   Pool the spore pellets and adjust the concentration to 2.0 - 4.0 x 10⁷ cells/ml with a fresh solution of Hank's Balanced Salt Solution.

      *If the concentration is too low centrifuge at 1300 x g for 10 min and resuspend in the volume of Hank's Balanced Salt Solution required to yield the desired concentration.

5.   Mix the spore preparation and 20% (v/v) DMSO in equal portions.  The final concentration will be 1.0 - 2.0 x 10⁷ cells/ml and 10% DMSO.  The time from mixing of the cell preparation and cryoprotective solution to the beginning of the freezing process should be no less than 15 min. and no more than 30 min.

6.   Dispense in 0.5 ml aliquots to 1.0-2.0 ml sterile plastic screw-capped cryules (special plastic vials for cryopreservation).

7.   Place the vials in a controlled rate freezing unit.  From room temperature cool at -1°C/min to -40°C.  If the freezing unit can compensate for the heat of fusion, maintain rate at        -1°C/min through the heat of fusion.  At -40°C plunge into liquid nitrogen. Alternatively, place the vials in a Nalgene 1°C freezing apparatus.  Place the apparatus at -80°C for 1.5 to 2 hours and then plunge ampules into liquid nitrogen.  (The cooling rate in this apparatus is approximately

-1°C/min.)  

8.   Store in either the vapor or liquid phase of a nitrogen refrigerator.

9.   To thaw a frozen ampule, place it in a 35°C water bath such that the lip of the ampule remains above the water line. Thawing time is approximately 2 to 3 minutes.  Do not agitate the ampule.  Do not leave ampule in water bath after thawed.

10.          Immediately after thawing, aseptically transfer contents to a T-25 tissue culture flask containing a fresh monolayer of ATCC CRL-1390 cells and 10 ml ATCC 30-2003 with 3% (v/v) HIFBS.

11.          Outgas the flask for 10 seconds with a 95% air, 5% CO₂ gas mixture.

12.          Incubate in a 35°C CO₂ incubator with the caps screwed on tightly.