Cryo-injury and biopreservation

Mammalian cells appear to be naturally tolerant to cold temperatures, but the formation of ice when cells are cooled leads to a variety of damaging effects. The study of cryo-injury, therefore, becomes the study of when and how ice is formed both inside and outside the cell during cooling. Protectant chemicals are used to control or prevent ice formation in many preservation protocols, but these chemical themselves tend to be damaging. Cooling and warming rates also strongly affect the amount and location of ice that is formed. Through careful modification of these parameters successful cold preservation techniques for many cell types have been developed, but there are many more cell types that have defied preservation techniques, and the extension of cell-based techniques to tissues and whole organs has been very limited. There are many aspects to the damaging effects of ice in cells that are still poorly understood. In this brief article we review our current understanding of cellular injury and highlight the aspects of cellular injury during cryopreservation that are still poorly understood.