X-Message-Number: 1925
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1993 17:51:35 MST
From: "Richard Schroeppel" <>
Subject: CRYONICS:  High Temperature Storage


Problem:  Biological tissues cooled much below the glass transition
temperature crack, making reconstruction difficult, and possibly
losing important ultra-structural information.

Solution:  Only freeze the tissue cold enough to inhibit bacterial
growth, and slow down enzymatic degradation.  Micro-pockets of water
will remain in the liquid state, but if they are small enough, we
don't care.  A few enzymes will do a small amount of damage, but the
total damage is much smaller than pervasive cracking.  Any enzyme
promoting an endothermic reaction will stop immediately due to lack
of ATP.  If the tissue is mostly ice, then no significant diffusion
will take place, so all enzymes should run out of reactants pretty
quickly.  If a few enzymes are responsible for damage, then we can
look for inhibitors, and administer them during cool-down.
If the bulk structure of the tissue is solid, and enough of the cell
walls survive that synapse positions can be determined, then there's
a possibility of a nanotech reconstruction.  Perhaps -50C would be a
reasonable temperature.

Rich Schroeppel  

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