X-Message-Number: 4017 From: (Brian Wowk) Newsgroups: sci.cryonics Subject: Re: Reversal of Freezing Injuries Date: 14 Mar 1995 23:47:49 GMT Message-ID: <3k59v5$> References: <3jrsbg$> Cryobiology is a large field with thousands of published papers covering topics ranging from insect winter survival mechanisms to how freeze human embryos. Only a small subset of this knowledge is relevant to cryonics. An extensive list of references can be found in the monograph, "The Cryobiological Case for Cryonics", available from either Alcor or CryoCare. As a general rule, many individual cell types can be successfully cryopreserved, while large organs cannot be. (Skin, corneas, and small intestines are the only organs I know that can be reversibly cryopreserved today.) One cryobiology lab (formerly at the Red Cross, now at Organ, Inc.) is tantalizingly close to a breakthrough with cryopreservation of the human kidney. If this works out, the next target (for cryonicists, anyway) will be the human brain. This could be anywhere from two to ten or more years away. That's where cryonics is at today. Don't expect reversible cryopreservation of whole bodies for at least 40 years, IMHO. Natural anti-freeze compounds, by the way, are not useful for organ cryopreservation as they only protect down to -40'C at most, while -130'C or lower is needed for true long-term storage. ---Brian Wowk Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4017