Effects of Water on Structure and Dynamics of Trehalose Glasses at Low Water Contents and its Relationship to Preservation Outcomes

Dry preservation of biologics in sugar glasses is regarded as a promising alternative to conventional cryopreservation. Evidence from various studies has suggested that there is a critical range of water content beyond which the viability of preserved biologics can be greatly compromised. In this study the viability of T-cells was determined as a function of end water content after microwave-assisted drying in trehalose solutions. Hydrogen-bonding and clustering phenomena in trehalose solutions of the same moisture content were also evaluated using molecular dynamics simulation. Post-rehydration viability decreased dramatically within the range of 0.1–1 gH(2)O/gdw. Molecular modeling revealed that as the water content approached 0.1 gH(2)O/gdw the matrix formed a large interconnected trehalose skeleton with a minimal number of bound water molecules scattered in the bulk. The diffusion coefficients of trehalose oxygen atoms most distant from the glycosidic linkage fluctuated around 7.5 × 10(−14) m(2)/s within the range of 0.02–0.1 gH(2)O/gdw and increased again to ~1.13 × 10(−13) m(2)/s at 0.01 gH(2)O/gdw and below due to the loss of water in the free volume between trehalose molecules. These insights can guide the optimal selection of final moisture contents to advance dry preservation methods.