X-Message-Number: 4744 From: (Albert-Jan Brouwer) Newsgroups: sci.cryonics Subject: Heavy Water Date: 7 Aug 1995 18:28:16 GMT Message-ID: <405m00$> I was wondering; have people considered using heavy water for "suspension" perfusates? D2O has a higher viscosity +25%, is 11% denser, has a higher freezing point (4 degrees Celcius). It will no doubt significantly quench the rate of many enzymatic reactions. Acidity will be affected though. What would be especially interesting is to learn more about ice growth in tissue perfused with D2O (or various mixtures/concentrations of D2O, HDO and H2O). Is anyone aware of such work? Off hand I'd guess that the higher the D concentration, the better the chance of glassification instead of crystalisation mostly because of the higher viscosity, slower kinetics. Also, the average geometeries of D2O and HDO differ very slightly from that of H2O due to the different zero point energy of the normal modes of vibration in somewhat anharmonic potentials. But this is probably negligible as far as ice formation is concerned. --- Albert-Jan Brouwer (EMail ) "Sleep -- those little slices of death -- how I loathe them!" -- Edgar A. Poe Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4744