[ExI] Whole-organ cryopreservation successful.

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 8:58 PM, Bret Kulakovich
<bret at bonfireproductions.com> wrote:
>
> Not to over-simplify, obviously, but this is great news.
>
> I believe the key word here is "All" rather than "rat"
>
> ~]3
>
> ---
>
> Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
>
> Successful restoration of function of frozen and thawed isolated rat hearts
> http://jtcs.ctsnetjournals.org/content/vol135/issue3/
>
> " After normothermic perfusion, cold cardioplegia was induced followed by
> perfusion with a cryoprotecting agent. Hearts were than frozen to –8°C (45 ±
> 8 minutes), thawed, and reperfused (60 minutes).
>
> Results: All frozen and thawed hearts regained normal electric activity. "

### The problem is that they have shown only recovery of electrical
activity which is of course good but this doesn't tell us too much
about the prospects for a successful transplant. That would only be
proven by recovery of function on reimplantation, and there we could
encounter significant difficulties due to induction of apoptosis.

Still, it's nice work.

Rafal