Criteria to consider when choosing format of cell lines in terms of ease of handling and revivability. Pros and cons of frozen culture in cryo vials and growing culture in culture flask?
I have not bought it in a culture flask before, so I do not know the pros and cons of that. But our institute buys cell lines in frozen cultures in cryovials all the time. There was an incident when the arrival of the cell lines at the institute was not informed in advanced, and no experts were around - that the research interns simply kept the cell lines at -20'C freezer! Of course, those cell lines did not survive. Anyway, the moral of the story is, if the cell lines in cryovials come, it is best to keep them straight in liquid nitrogen if no expert is around.
Like Nural I've never purchased in a culture flask before. I can recommend cryovials, assuming they are stored properly on arrival. We store ours in a -80 freezer and attain viabilities of >90% when the cells are preserved in cryostore.
It is a matter of time and cost. If you are able to handle the cells (or need to work with the cells immediately), flasks are a good option for you. However, you must be prepared to work with the flask as soon as you receive it. If time is not of the essence, then frozen vials are always your best bet. Cost wise, I find that some commercially frozen vials are pretty expensive compared to flasks. If you have a non-commercial source for a flask (i.e., another laboratory), then it could be very cheap or free. The downside with getting a flask is that you usually have no or little quality control-things like bacteria, fungi, or mycoplasma contamination are not assessed. A good commercially frozen vial of cells (say, from ATCC) will have all the documentation and testing done sent with it.
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