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Brief introduction to mechanisms of freezing injury and cryoprotection.

Author(s) : MERICKA P.

Summary

Understanding the fundamental processes causing injury during freezing and thawing is very important for cryobiologists, who preserve living cells in cryobanks. In freezing we can distinguish two cases. In crystallization, molecules or atoms are arranged in regular structures. In vitrification, solidification is not accompanied with formation of regular structures. Before the discovery of the cryoprotective effect of glycerol it was believed, that achieving vitrification using rapid cooling was the correct way to assure survival of cells and tissues. This way was, however, not successful. In the 60´s Mazur explained the mechanism of avoidance of intracellular freezing in single celled organisms. Since that time slow cooling has been used in preservation of cell suspensions both in absence and presence of cryoprotectants. The attempts to freeze vascularised organs failed, however. The recent intensive research of properties of different vitrification solutions shows that vitrification is the promising approach to freezing of multicellular systems.

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Pages: 2004-1

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Details

  • Original title: Brief introduction to mechanisms of freezing injury and cryoprotection.
  • Record ID : 2005-2265
  • Languages: English
  • Source: Cryogenics 2004. Proceedings of the 8th Cryogenics Conference
  • Publication date: 2004/04/27

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