Jun

26

Does cryogenics actually work?

Filed Under Biology 

I am the Badger Princess. asked:


even if they do find a way to reanimate you in the future and repare the damage caused by corruption ,will that person still be you? I mean surely they will have to replace or regrow some of the cells in your brain but how many cells have to be replaced before you are no longer you but a clone and the real you is dead.i am 15 and find the idea of one day becoming a human ice lolly strangely alluring ,but i want to know that when i am defrosted that I will still be me and not a clone type thing.

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2 Responses to “Does cryogenics actually work?”

  1. Steve on June 26th, 2008 6:26 pm

    Well the answer is nobuddy knows. Obviously no one has been brought back to life yet, but I personally don’t think it’ll work. If you are frozen you won’t be regenerated as a clone but you will reenter into a totally different world. You’ll have little to no money (inflation) no job skills (imagine trying to get some one from 300 years ago to work a computer) and to top it all off you’ll be as dumb as a post (missed out on all those advances in education)

  2. dumbdumb on June 28th, 2008 4:00 am

    I have used cryogenics to freeze lymphocytes from organ donors. The goal in my clinical lab was to have a reference for cross-matching the donor lymphocytes (T and B cells) with the recipients blood, just in case a rejection episode occurred.

    Repeating the cross-match (should a rejection episode occur) allowed me to see if I made a mistake the first time around. If I got the same negative cross-match, The surgeons would know that the rejection was not “acute”, but was due to chronic rejection. The medical approach to keep the organ recipient alive would be different for each type of rejection.

    But back to your question:

    The cells were preserved in a DMSO/H2O solution, and the cells and solution where placed in a special tube that would resist cracking at low temperature.

    I would slowly freeze the cells over a few days to -80 degrees in a Styrofoam container. Then I transferred the tube to a liquid nitrogen tank (I forget the temperature of liquid nitrogen, but you can google search for a quick answer, if your interested). The cells would be good for about 10 years if stored like this.

    Anyway, as I thawed the cells, I could usually depend on 50% loss of the cells (50% would die and 50% would still be viable). I knew this because I would take some of the cells and perform a “vital stain” which has a blue color to it. If the dye was able to cross the cell membrane (making the cell blue), it indicated that the cell was dead. If the cell membrane was able to resist the dye, it indicated that the cell membrane was intact and the cell was most likely still alive.

    I would say that if I froze you, and then brought you back “to life” 50% of your cells would be dead. This surely would not be enough for you to be functional.

    Great Question. Pass on the good karma

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