X-Message-Number: 17455 Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2001 11:55:09 -0700 (PDT) From: Doug Skrecky <> Subject: Plastination and Other Chemo Alternatives Message #17449 From: Mike Perry <> > Research funds are > scarce, especially when it comes to a bid for immortality, whatever your > preferred methods. But I would like to see *some* serious research devoted > to alternatives to low-temperature storage, again with the goal of reanimation. > In the past I've examined such alternatives. We do have dried animals being revived after a century of storage at room temperature, but these creatures possess a number of adaptations to enable them to do this, which can not be duplicated in human tissue. Even the basic problem of infusing lyoprotectants into tissue is virtually impossible, since without special transport mechanisms human tissue can not readily absorb disaccharides. Temporary stabilization with fixatives is currently a requirement for sugar infusion to have any chance of being achieved. There has been some work on reversible chemical fixation, but this is still in an early phase of investigation. Even here I am not convinced that storage temperatures can be safely increased above dry ice temperatures. However all this doom and gloom may be moot. Long term storage costs at liquid nitrogen temperature are going to be proportional to the space utilized by a "patient". The reduction in size from a complete body to that of a human brain (or head) is so considerable that (IMHO) it is unlikely the costs associated with such storage will destroy a cryonics storage facility in the next century (or two?). At least in the case of Alcor patient preparation costs and overhead appear to be the major financial limiting factors. It has been explained to me that the cost of storing a brain or head is virtually the same as that for a whole body because the whole body still has to be prepared for freezing, even if only the head is retained. I think that the most alluring avenue for cost reduction lies with eliminating the requirement for whole body preparation, with cephalic preservation. To be blunt, the damage inflicted on bodies at present is so extensive the chances of their revival is negligible. It would be far more likely that only the brains would be restored, with the rest of the body being replaced, as opposed to repaired. Storage of whole bodies might make psychological sense, but technically it is an absurd notion. Brain preparation for liquid nitrogen storage must involve a considerable dehydration to reduce (eliminate?) destructive ice formation. Without an intact vascular system a brain is beleived to be impossible to dehydrate in the few hours available before tissue deterioration sets in. I am not convinced that is so, for the reason that synthetic perfusion/dehydration pathways could be created quickly and cheaply. Slicing a brain into layers is a simple but drastic method for achieving this. However I suspect vastly less physical damage needs to be inflicted to dehydrate a brain. One intriguing possibility that has not been investigated is puncturing an intact brain with tens of thousands of microscopic needles. These might turn the tissue into a pin cushion, but if the needles are small enough, tissue damage would be minimal. I'm sure other ideas will occur to the reader. Perhaps if some method could be agreed on, some experimentation might settle the issue for once and for all. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=17455