X-Message-Number: 29939 From: Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:05:24 EDT Subject: Re: drying preserves human skin viability So drying in salt preserves tissue viability. The Egyptians were right all along! They used Natron to dehydrate their mummies, and of course got good superficial preservation -- but has anyone tried rehydrating them and seeing if they'd still go? I know that reading The Book of the Dead works (anyone else seen the original of The Mummy, and the wonderful scene where the Mummy gets raised? Far more original horror there than in the average Chain Saw flik. Worth watching.) But to think they could have just watered him... On a serious note, it is thought that vitrification solution used on brains without opening the blood brain barrier simply dehydrates the brain tissue and thus prevents ice formation because it leaves so little water. I'd always wondered whether that left the tissue recoverable, but this paper implies that this might be more likely than I'd thought. Alan Natron Natron is a white, crystalline hygroscopic mineral salt, primarily a mixture of sodium bicarbonate (common baking soda) and sodium carbonate (soda ash) with small amounts of sodium chloride (table salt) and sodium sulfate. Natron is somewhat antiseptic and is also an exfoliant and a desiccant. In ancient Egypt, natron was mined as a powdery solid from dry lake beds or wadis near the Nile River, and put to a wide variety of uses, including mummification. It absorbed the flesh-eating bacteria that would decompose the body. (The term "natron" and the chemical symbol for sodium, Na, both derive from the name of the Wadi Natrum, the ancient Egyptians' primary source of the material). Natron also can be found in Natrona County, Wyoming. It was also added to castor oil to produce a smokeless fuel which allowed Egyptian artisans to paint elaborate artworks inside ancient tombs without them becoming besmirched with soot. Because it has strong grease-cutting properties, natron has also been associated with soap production. Natron was commonly used in glass-making, by the Romans and others, until trade declined after 640 AD. The chemical symbol for sodium, Na, is derived from the Roman term natrium. Natron is sometimes referred to as "impure salt". Natron is used to make Bavarian pretzels. The dough is dipped into a natron solution to give it its brown color and distinctive flavor when baked. Message #29934 Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:19:54 -0700 (PDT) From: Subject: drying preserves human skin viability Transplantation. 2006 Jun 15;81(11):1583-8. Human skin preserved long-term in anhydric pulverized sodium chloride retains cell molecular structure and resumes function after transplantation. Olszewski WL, Moscicka M, Zolich D. Department of Surgical Research and Transplantology, Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. BACKGROUND: Human skin is needed to cover large areas of the body lost through burns, trauma, and extensive maxillofacial surgery. Contemporary methods of skin storage are limited by the period of preservation to a few days. Our previous findings showed that fixation and storage of human skin in anhydric sodium chloride at room temperature for weeks or months preserves its morphological and molecular structure. In this study, we examined whether skin grafts preserved in sodium chloride may be successfully transplanted. METHODS: Skin was harvested from lower limbs of patients during elective surgery, placed in containers with anhydric salt powder, and kept at 22 degrees C for 3 to 12 weeks. Desalination and rehydration took place before transplantation. Desalinated fragments were transplanted onto the dorsum of scid mice. RESULTS: All grafts were accepted by recipients. Three weeks after transplantation, keratinocytes synthesized keratins 10, 16, and 17 and expressed antigens specific for stem (p63) and transient (CD29) cells. Moreover, they proliferated vigorously, their basal layer cells incorporated bromdeoxyuridine and expressed proliferative cell nuclear antigen. Isolated from transplants and cultured in vitro, they remained viable and produced enzymes. Dermis retained its structure and expressed fibroblast-specific antigen. All graft cells remained human leukocyte antigen I. CONCLUSION: Human skin preserved in anhydric sodium chloride at room temperature for months can be successfully transplanted to scid mice. We propose the concept of "spore-like" keratinocyte stem cells to explain the long-term ex vivo survival of keratinocytes. The mechanism of survival of fibroblasts remains to be determined. PMID: 16770248 Ann Transplant. 2004;9(4):37-9. Human skin preserved in anhydric sodium chloride for months can be successfully transplanted. Olszewski WL, Moscicka M, Zolich D. Department of Surgical Research and Transplantology, Medical Research Center, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. Human skin can be preserved in pulverized sodium chloride dehydrated at 240C for 2 hours at room temperature for periods of weeks or months Ahem -- I bet they mean 24C not 240C! and successfully transplanted to scid mouse, retaining its normal morphological structure. Fragment of skin of a size of 10 x 10 x 6 mm were harvested during elective vascular and orthopaedic surgery of lower limbs, dried of blood and placed in anhydric sodium chloride powder in tight sealed containers. Prior to transplantation to scid mice, the specimens were desalinated and rehydrated. Specimes preserved for 1 to 6 months and harvested 3-4 weeks after transplantation revealed intensive incorporation of bromdeoxyuridine (BrdU) into basal keratinocytes. They expressed p63 and CD29 (stem cells, and transient cells antigens), PCNA (proliferating cell nuclear antigen) and cytokeratin 16 specific for proliferating keratinocytes. Dermal fibroblasts and few large HLA II cells showed a normal structure. Bacterial flora of skin did not change after grafting. We conclude that human skin can survive in a dehydrated state in sodium chloride for months and after transplantation the epidermal basal layer cells give rise to keratinocyte progenies. Skin fibroblasts and some resident immune cells can also survive. PMID: 15884435 Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=29934 End of CryoNet Digest ********************* ************************************** See what's new at http://www.aol.com Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=29939