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Vitrification as an Approach to Organ Cryopreservation: Past, Present, and Future

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Cryopreservation and low temperature biology in blood transfusion

Part of the book series: Developments in Hematology and Immunology ((DIHI,volume 24))

Abstract

The concept of preserving organs in a viable condition outside of the human body dates at least from 1812, when LeGallois first proposed that after death of the body the human head (and therefore the individual) could be kept alive by removing it and supporting it by normothermic artificial machine perfusion [1]. History, however, has gone instead in the direction of hypothermic organ preservation, which seems to be a better option for both biological and economic reasons. The subject of this paper still lies in the future, and that is “cryothermic” preservation, i.e., preservation of organs at temperatures below −100°C. The primary advantage of this approach, should it prove to be possible, is that preservation times should become indefinite at such temperatures, thereby opening up many new and significant opportunities in transplantation medicine. This paper reviews the many steps toward the goal of organ cryopreservation by vitrification which have been taken since the beginning of this field in 1980, and also provides a very brief sketch of the rather ironic history of this area of research.

Supported in part by grants (GM 17959 and BSRG 2507 RR05737) from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.

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Authors
  1. G. M. Fahy
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Red Cross Blood Bank Groningen-Drenthe, The Netherlands

    C. Th. Smit Sibinga  & P. C. Das  & 

  2. Jerome H. Holland Laboratory, American Red Cross, Rockville, MD, USA

    H. T. Meryman

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© 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers, Boston

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Fahy, G.M. (1990). Vitrification as an Approach to Organ Cryopreservation: Past, Present, and Future. In: Smit Sibinga, C.T., Das, P.C., Meryman, H.T. (eds) Cryopreservation and low temperature biology in blood transfusion. Developments in Hematology and Immunology, vol 24. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1515-5_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-1515-5_24

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-8814-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-1515-5

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