X-Message-Number: 2478
Date: 05 Dec 93 19:25:18 EST
From: "BROOK H. NORTON" <>
Subject: CRYONICS storage and brain damage

1)  I read that one of the cryonics organizations will freeze/store a 
tissue sample for you for about $300, I think.  Anyone know which 
organization it is?  I'm 33 and like the idea of saving some genetic code 
while I'm young to give the future doctors a clean blueprint to work from 
as they try to turn my old reanimated self into a younger version.  Any 
opinions on whether this is a technically sound train of thought?

2)  Also, can anyone clear me up on the following situation?...  There's 
the wives' tale that if the brain goes for 5-10 min without oxygen,  the 
brain cells start to die off (implied that they structurally break down).  
If this were true, then it would be too late to freeze because the brain 
info is already lost.  I understand what really happens is that after 5-10 
minutes, the circulatory system to the brain shuts down (due to brain 
swelling?) and that attempts to revive after 5-10 minutes leave brain 
damage because circulation cannot be restarted to parts of the brain, and 
those affected cells eventually break down.  The brain cells however do not 
start to break down for tens of minutes or even hours, and so if suspended 
first, the info remains in tact.  What I don't get is, if the suspention 
procedure isn't started for, say, 20 minutes, how will the cryoprotectant 
reach those parts of the brain where circulation is shut down?

Is is simply the case that when resuscitation starts within 5 min of 
clinical death, that the cryoprotectant reaches the entire brain, but when 
resuscitation starts later, cryoprotectant does not reach some areas of the 
brain, areas which then undergo a local straight freeze?

Brook Norton

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