X-Message-Number: 2290
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 93 00:05:11 CDT
From: Brian Wowk <>
Subject: CRYONICS dehydration

Gregory Bloom:
 
> I was wondering whether dehydration might help reduce the injury from
> cryosuspension.  As I understand it, most of the damage of cryosuspension
> results from huge osmotic pressure gradients across the cell membrane
> as pure water freezes and ions concentrate, drawing water out of the cell.  
> This results in damage to the membrane.  Also, large pockets of
> extracellular water freeze and separate cells from one another.
 
> Why don't we pre-dehydrate tissues by using a gently increasing hypertonic
> perfusate prior to freezing?
 
        Very perceptive of you.  However, it turns out that cryoprotectants 
such as glycerol already make the perfusate hypertonic, and greatly dehydrate 
cells prior to freezing.  This dehydration effect is one of the main 
mechanisms by which cryoprotectants protect against freezing damage.
 
                                                --- Brian Wowk 

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