X-Message-Number: 14635 From: Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2000 14:15:58 EDT Subject: Re: CryoNet #14549 D2O effects Late answer to: > Message #14549 > Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2000 09:12:50 -0700 (PDT) > From: Doug Skrecky <> > Subject: heavy water may aid cryopreservation > > Title > Deuterium oxide-based University of > Wisconsin solution improves viability of hypothermically stored vascular > tissue. > Source > Transplantation. 65(5):735-7, 1998 Mar 15. >> > From biochemical background: D2O (heavy water) is a toxic product. It forbids the tubule breaking at the periphery of the cell. In a cell, tubules are continuously assembled at the cell's center, the centrosome (the nucleus is not at the center). they are destroyed at the cell border where they broke into the elementary tubulin units (there are two kind of them) these units move back to the center where they are assembled anew. This form a conveyor belt able to move big macromolecules and vesicles or subunits such mitochondrias. D2O freeze out that conveyor, this paralysis kill the cell after some time. At low temperature, the tubulin units can't be assembled and the centrosome itself disolves. D20 is then useful as a centrosome protectant. A far less costly product with the same effect is colchicin, a toxic product for the same reason at normal temperature. Yvan Bozzonetti. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14635