Cells isolated directly from tissues (primary cultures) have many applications in research and applications in the fields of toxicology, pharmacology, and virology. Where such preparations remain the only scientific option to achieve necessary results it is still possible to refine and reduce the use of animal and human sources of the tissue by cryopreservation of the primary cells for later use, this reduces the need for fresh tissues and enables improvements in standardization through the ability to provide the same cell preparation at different times and to different laboratories. The methods described provide options for adherent cultures as monolayers, harvested cell suspensions, and also lymphocytes isolated from peripheral blood.