Hybridomas can successfully be prepared from frozen/thawn spleen cells.
Spleens from mice immunized with either human von Willebrand factor, albumin or fragment DD from plasminolyzed fibrin were divided into two equal parts. Subsequently, one half of the spleen cells were fused directly with X-63 mouse myeloma cells and the other half fused after freezing and thawing. The results show that hybridomas may successfully be prepared from frozen/thawn spleen cells, but that a higher cell density than with fresh cells is required. The possibility of making use of frozen spleen cell material implies that valuable time and cell material can be saved, and that fusions can be postponed and performed at the time of choice.