X-Message-Number: 29889
Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2007 12:25:22 -0700
From: "Jeff Davis" <>
Subject: Transmembrane cryoprotectant transport

Getting the cryoprotectant cocktail past the cell membrane and into
the cell is crucial.  There are (so I've heard) many candidate
cryoprotectants with favorable characteristics which are unusable
because they don't readily cross the cell membrane. It would seem then
that routine effective transmembrane transport could bring a marked
improvement in cryosuspension quality by making any and all
cryoprotectant candidates available for use without regard to their
native "membrane permeability".

The following article:

Developing a modular, nanoparticle drug delivery system

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-10/vu-dam100507.php

seems to suggest progress in that direction.

Other candidates for effective transmembrane transport include viral
vectors and custom synthetic liposomes.  And if you're thinking along
these lines and making a wishlist, then look for a cell-specific
targeting system which distinguishes and pointedly targets each of the
different cell types, and then delivers a cell-specific ( ie tailored
to that specific cell type) cryoprotectant cocktail.   Achieving such
a system would move us past the "stone age" of cryonics.

Current capabilities and the trajectory of research suggest to me that
these are reasonable goals.

We shall see.
-- 
Best, Jeff Davis

               "Everything's hard till you
                     know how to do it."
                              Ray Charles

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