Ice crystal formation is one of the big challenges in low-temperature tissue preservation. Ideally one wants vitrification rather than freezing. The former is the formation of a glass-like state in which even very fine-scale structure is preserved, such as axonal connections between neurons. The latter produces ice crystal formation that is disruptive to small-scale structures such as cells and their organelles. Existing cryoprotectants are good at their task of preventing ice crystal formation if they can be perfused through the whole tissue, which is unfortunately by no means a given in large tissue sections using existing techniques, at least if the tissue is…
Exploring Natural Antifreeze Proteins as a Basis for Improved Cryopreservation of Tissues
Ice crystal formation is one of the big challenges in low-temperature tissue preservation. Ideally one wants vitrification rather than freezing. The former is the formation of a glass-like state in which even very fine-scale structure is preserved, such as axonal connections between neurons. The latter produces ice crystal formation that is disruptive to small-scale structures such as cells and their organelles. Existing cryoprotectants are good at their task of preventing ice crystal formation if they can be perfused through the whole tissue, which is unfortunately by no means a given in large tissue sections using existing techniques, at least if the tissue is…