Freeze!
Cryogenic freezing is a concept some of us may be familiar with mostly thanks to the infamous tale of Walt Disney freezing his head. While his case is not necessarily true, many people after him have decided this is what they wish to do with their bodies after death, in the hopes to be revived and cured of illness in the future. Cryogenic freezing or cryopreservation is defined as "a process that preserves organelles, cells, tissues, or any other biological constructs by cooling the samples to very low temperatures" (3). The first person to do this was Dr. James Bedford in January 1967 (5), and as of 2013, 269 people have been cryogenically frozen worldwide (8) although the numbers on this are hard to determine.
The process of cryogenic freezing sounds like something out of a sci fi novel. The process is actually rather intuitive. The patient must first be legally dead, once proclaimed dead the patient is placed in an ice bath while blood circulation and breathing are artificially restored by a heart- lung resuscitator or more affectionately known, "thumper" (5). The patient is then administered a cocktail of medications that help maintain blood pressure, protect the brain, and reduce brain oxygen consumption. The next step in the overall process is cryoptotecting the body, this involves washing out the blood in the patient and replacing it with what is basically an antifreeze for your cells so that they do not crystallize upon freezing. The antifreeze in the body keeps the little water remaining in the patients cells from being "squashed" by ice crystals, and the water molecules are kept apart until it is so cold the cells stop moving all together, when water becomes solid without freezing it is called vitrification (5). Next is the actual cooling steps first the patient is cooled with nitrogen gas to near 125°C, at which point vitrification should have occurred. The patient is then cooled all the way to -196°C over a period of two weeks (5). The patients are then stored in giant vacuum- insulated vats called dewers (5) until they are able to be (hopefully) reanimated and/or cured of whatever ailed them in life. As a cheaper alternative, patients can choose to have only their brains frozen, with the goal being to "restore the patient to health by regrowing a new body around the brain using future tissue regeneration technology" (5). The process overall is rather similar, however the main difference is that the head is surgically removed before loading the head with the cryoprotectant (5).
So, why do people think this will work? and the answer is there have actually been a few studies that show reanimation after freezing is not completely off the wall. According to a study in 2015 memory retention was observed in C. elegans after being cryogeniclly frozen to -80oC (4). In 2002 and 2003, a series of experiments were done on cryogenically freezing rabbit kidneys and replacing them in their donors (1). In 2008, there was also a successful experiment that showed that slices of rat hippocampus can be preserved and neural networks do not loose function after being preserved by vetrification (2). Now, these are the results that these cryogenic facilities want you to see but upon further examination of the articles there is definitly not as much evidence that this will work as they would like. A large hole being there has not been anything that has been frozen to the degree the human patients are being frozen to and then reanimated, another is there is no evidence that a full body of a mamalian can be revived after freezing. At the very least, more research is needed, which is kind of their whole slogan.
While most of the information about the process is from Alcor which is stationed in Arizona, there are two other institutes where you can get your body frozen. One is called the Cryonics Institute which is in Michigan and the other is KrioRus which is stationed in Russia. Alcor is the most expensive with the full body preservation at a cool $200,000 (5), both Cryonics and KrioRus only require $28,000 but this can increase depending on location and time of notification of death (6,7).
While cryogenic freezing a body or head may not be as lucrative as many of these people would hope there are many practical applications to reserching cryogenic freezing. Long term storage of organs, brain matter, and stem cells would be beneficial since cryogenic freezing by vitrification allows cells to remain intact while being stored at low temperatures (3). There are many other benefits to researching cryopreservation, including cryosurgory, which is freezing tumors (Juan), blood and marrow transfusions and even applications outside of humans with food and plant storage (3).
There are many websites that can tell you more about the subject, and visiting Alcor Cyonics institute or KrioRus' websites are very interesting. Alcor even has case reports of every person that has received treatment if you are looking for a more detailed list of what happens to a patient. While some people may be horrified or just plain confused at why people would do this, I believe it says a lot about peoples desire to live and hope regarding the future.
1. Fahy, Gregory M et al. “Physical and Biological Aspects of Renal Vitrification.” Organogenesis 5.3 (2009): 167–175. Print.
2. Pichugin, Yuri, et al. "Cryopreservation of Rat Hippocampal Slices by Vitrification." Cryobiology, vol. 52, no. 2, Apr. 2006, pp. 228-240. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.shsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmedm&AN=16403489&site=eds-live&scope=site.
3. Tae Hoon, Jang, et al. "Cryopreservation and Its Clinical Applications." Integrative Medicine Research, Vol 6, Iss 1, Pp 12-18 (2017), no. 1, 2017, p. 12. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.imr.2016.12.001.
4.Vita-More, Natasha, and Daniel Barranco. “Persistence of Long-Term Memory in Vitrified and Revived Caenorhabditis Elegans.” Rejuvenation Research 18.5 (2015): 458–463. PMC. Web. 9 Nov. 2017.
5. http://www.alcor.org/
6. http://cryonics.org/
7. http://kriorus.ru/en
8. https://www.quora.com/How-many-people-are-currently-estimated-to-be-cryogenically-frozen
The process of cryogenic freezing sounds like something out of a sci fi novel. The process is actually rather intuitive. The patient must first be legally dead, once proclaimed dead the patient is placed in an ice bath while blood circulation and breathing are artificially restored by a heart- lung resuscitator or more affectionately known, "thumper" (5). The patient is then administered a cocktail of medications that help maintain blood pressure, protect the brain, and reduce brain oxygen consumption. The next step in the overall process is cryoptotecting the body, this involves washing out the blood in the patient and replacing it with what is basically an antifreeze for your cells so that they do not crystallize upon freezing. The antifreeze in the body keeps the little water remaining in the patients cells from being "squashed" by ice crystals, and the water molecules are kept apart until it is so cold the cells stop moving all together, when water becomes solid without freezing it is called vitrification (5). Next is the actual cooling steps first the patient is cooled with nitrogen gas to near 125°C, at which point vitrification should have occurred. The patient is then cooled all the way to -196°C over a period of two weeks (5). The patients are then stored in giant vacuum- insulated vats called dewers (5) until they are able to be (hopefully) reanimated and/or cured of whatever ailed them in life. As a cheaper alternative, patients can choose to have only their brains frozen, with the goal being to "restore the patient to health by regrowing a new body around the brain using future tissue regeneration technology" (5). The process overall is rather similar, however the main difference is that the head is surgically removed before loading the head with the cryoprotectant (5).
So, why do people think this will work? and the answer is there have actually been a few studies that show reanimation after freezing is not completely off the wall. According to a study in 2015 memory retention was observed in C. elegans after being cryogeniclly frozen to -80oC (4). In 2002 and 2003, a series of experiments were done on cryogenically freezing rabbit kidneys and replacing them in their donors (1). In 2008, there was also a successful experiment that showed that slices of rat hippocampus can be preserved and neural networks do not loose function after being preserved by vetrification (2). Now, these are the results that these cryogenic facilities want you to see but upon further examination of the articles there is definitly not as much evidence that this will work as they would like. A large hole being there has not been anything that has been frozen to the degree the human patients are being frozen to and then reanimated, another is there is no evidence that a full body of a mamalian can be revived after freezing. At the very least, more research is needed, which is kind of their whole slogan.
While most of the information about the process is from Alcor which is stationed in Arizona, there are two other institutes where you can get your body frozen. One is called the Cryonics Institute which is in Michigan and the other is KrioRus which is stationed in Russia. Alcor is the most expensive with the full body preservation at a cool $200,000 (5), both Cryonics and KrioRus only require $28,000 but this can increase depending on location and time of notification of death (6,7).
While cryogenic freezing a body or head may not be as lucrative as many of these people would hope there are many practical applications to reserching cryogenic freezing. Long term storage of organs, brain matter, and stem cells would be beneficial since cryogenic freezing by vitrification allows cells to remain intact while being stored at low temperatures (3). There are many other benefits to researching cryopreservation, including cryosurgory, which is freezing tumors (Juan), blood and marrow transfusions and even applications outside of humans with food and plant storage (3).
There are many websites that can tell you more about the subject, and visiting Alcor Cyonics institute or KrioRus' websites are very interesting. Alcor even has case reports of every person that has received treatment if you are looking for a more detailed list of what happens to a patient. While some people may be horrified or just plain confused at why people would do this, I believe it says a lot about peoples desire to live and hope regarding the future.
1. Fahy, Gregory M et al. “Physical and Biological Aspects of Renal Vitrification.” Organogenesis 5.3 (2009): 167–175. Print.
2. Pichugin, Yuri, et al. "Cryopreservation of Rat Hippocampal Slices by Vitrification." Cryobiology, vol. 52, no. 2, Apr. 2006, pp. 228-240. EBSCOhost, ezproxy.shsu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cmedm&AN=16403489&site=eds-live&scope=site.
3. Tae Hoon, Jang, et al. "Cryopreservation and Its Clinical Applications." Integrative Medicine Research, Vol 6, Iss 1, Pp 12-18 (2017), no. 1, 2017, p. 12. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.imr.2016.12.001.
4.Vita-More, Natasha, and Daniel Barranco. “Persistence of Long-Term Memory in Vitrified and Revived Caenorhabditis Elegans.” Rejuvenation Research 18.5 (2015): 458–463. PMC. Web. 9 Nov. 2017.
5. http://www.alcor.org/
6. http://cryonics.org/
7. http://kriorus.ru/en
8. https://www.quora.com/How-many-people-are-currently-estimated-to-be-cryogenically-frozen
WOW! This blog was very mind blowing. I really knew nothing about cryogenic freezing. You did a great job!
ReplyDeleteI am with you on the fact that many people have this desire to live well past their time. This whole post kind of reminded me of the Underworld movie series where they are frozen for a few years and then reanimated. I found this post extremely informative and wild at the same time. I can definitely see where some people may think it will actually work, but my thing is, if you have to be pronounced dead before being frozen, when they try to reanimate you, won't you still be dead? Other than that, I think you did an amazing job on this blog!
ReplyDeleteMany people have a problem with that part of the process, however the goal of these facilities is that they will have the technology to not only thaw the person, but also to reanimate the dead. The people who sign up for this, place a lot of faith in the scientific community.
DeleteI found your post to be quite interesting. The concept of reanimation in unfathomable to me. Other than for scientific purposes, I do not see why anyone would actually want to be reanimated.
ReplyDeleteLucio Avellaneda
ReplyDeleteI wonder who pays for the heads to be kept frozen while they are in there. The money to keep conditions safe for these people must be coming from somewhere. It would be an interesting story to see that these places loose funding and the heads or whatever is frozen have to be moved or gotten rid of.
I do not know if their hope that the future of science can help them but stranger things have happened. With PCR we are able to replicate DNA that we find in small amounts so we can find information that would have been too small otherwise. Many can obtain information from bones that we consider to be millions of years old.
If we do maybe we can one day see Disney making cartoons again, or he might have a heart attack over how advanced the process has become.
I have never really looked into cryogenic freezing before but this article was very informative! I think I understand why people choose to do this but personally, I'm ok with not coming back when I die. I had no idea that it could cost as little as $28,000 though.
ReplyDeleteFascinating post! Its the reanimation part that seems like the difficulty...you'd have to figure out a way to reverse whatever process killed the person in the first place. Its alos hard to imagine that in the process of dying a person wouldn't experience brain-death, or that it would be somehow reversible. What about legal precedent? If the reanimated a person, would that person have any kind of claim on what remained of their estate?
ReplyDelete