X-Message-Number: 30696
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:17:08 -0700 (PDT)
From: 
Subject: Scientific Justification of Cryonics Practice

Rejuvenation Res. 2008 Mar 5 [Epub ahead of print]
Scientific Justification of Cryonics Practice.
Best BP.
Cryonics Institute, Clinton Township, Michigan.
Very low temperatures create conditions that can preserve tissue for
centuries, possibly including the neurological basis of the human mind.
Through a process called vitrification, brain tissue can be cooled to
cryogenic temperatures without ice formation. Damage associated with this
process is theoretically reversible in the same sense that rejuvenation is
theoretically possible by specific foreseeable technology. Injury to the
brain due to stopped blood flow is now known to result from a complex series
of processes that take much longer to run to completion than the 6 min limit
of ordinary resuscitation technology. Reperfusion beyond the 6 min limit
primarily damages blood vessels rather than brain tissue. Apoptosis of
neurons takes many hours. This creates a window of opportunity between legal
death and irretrievable loss of life for human and animal subjects for
cryopreservation with possibility of future resuscitation. Under ideal
conditions, the time interval between onset of clinical death and beginning
of cryonics procedures can be reduced to less than 1 min, but much longer
delays could also be compatible with ultimate survival. Although the
evidence that cryonics may work is indirect, the application of indirect
evidence is essential in many areas of science. If complex changes due to
aging are reversible at some future date, then similarly complex changes due
to stopped blood flow and cryopreservation may also be reversible, with
life-saving results for anyone with medical needs that exceed current
capabilities.
PMID: 18321197 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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