X-Message-Number: 3655 Date: 10 Jan 95 15:01:10 EST From: yvan Bozzonetti <> Subject: CRYONICS : Colchicum and aspirin. + Nuclear Frankeinstein Aspirin is a plant derived durg, it was found with a curious reasonning : Arthritis is associated with wet environment and marsh domain, so God must have provided the cure in the same location... So aspirin (salicilic acid) was discovered in willow bark. (willow = salicine in old french). here, I apply the same reasonning: colchicum flower are the first to get out of snow in January. that look somewhat as the cover picture of The Immortalist for some month now. So I suggest to use some extract of these flowers in cryonics perfusate. It could be a sign for getting soon of the snow ( the cryonics state ). Unconvinced? Well, then I must invent a good story with plenty of pseudoscience. (magy is better). I have spoken before about tubulin molecules inside the cell; They form rings at the cell's center and microtubules elsewhere; These microtubules are continually assembled at cell center and dismantled near the outher membrane; the free tubulin molecules get then back to the center where they assemble themselve anew. The assembly process is very temperature dependent, on the contrairy, peripheral separation runs nearlly always at the same speed. When a cell is cooled down, its microtubules shorten because they are assembled more slowly and disassembled at an unabatted peace. After a sufficient time at a sufficiently low temperature, there are no more microtubules , only the central rings remain. In this state, a cell can't divide: the microtubules are the driving motor behind the chromosome separation process and the pinch off of the membrane giving two separate cells. In a warm environment, the microtubules growth start anew from the central rings; now, if the temperature get too low for too long, even the central structure disolves and can't start to assemble spontaneously from nothing. Often, cells have some pore communication with other cells. If one of them has its central structure, it will send some microtubules to the deprived ones and from here, all will be build back. If there is no such cell in the environment, all the cell group has lost its capacity to reproduce. Colchicum flowers contain a poverful poison : the colchicine. that product enter the cell and cap the outer end of microtubules so that they can't anymore broke into separate componements. At the cell center, tubuline molecules are assembled until there is no more free molecules. There are then very long tubules in the cell but the conveyor belt function stops. There is no more cell division again. On the other hand, there are super disolver able to counteract the colchicine effect. So this toxic is not really a problem. It could be very useful in the cryonics cooling process: it would stop the microtubule destruction. Works ar Cryonics Institute have demonstrated the value of slow cooling, against the cracking problem. This is very harmful for the inner cell microtubule system, so it would be interesting to use colchicine to solve the problem. ------------------- Now, the message you will not spared: Frankeinstein goes nuclear ! Mary Shelley's Dr. Frankeinstein brougth back to life its creature with electric discharges. that was good when electricity was an absolute novelty, now I think the technology of nuclear reactor would be more appropriate. I don't use precious waveband to produce here a full course on nuclear reactors, at least for that time; So I limit myself to the most elementary reactor desing where the active elements are simply bathed in heavy water (D2O). This is used as a thermal exchanger and a neutron slowing medium. In the cryonics thawing process, there is too a thermal problem, so why no use heavy water ? This product is a devious poison: it looks and tastes as ordinary water but kill very effectively ( an idea for a perfect crime). Its action is very simple: it dissolve the microtubules system even at room temperature. So it mimick the effect of a long, slow cooling. It neutralize too the colchicine effect. I think it would be usefull both, at thawing and to study the cooling effect on small sample at room temperature. Y.B. Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=3655