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Don ice crystals spear cells?

April 26, 2017cells crystals Ice spear

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Don ice crystals spear cells?

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This idea continues to be promulgated by people who should know better. First, the question is moot for systems that are vitrified because they have no ice crystals. Second, when tissue is frozen, and when extracellular ice does penetrate cell membranes, it does so by either: a) trans-pore ice growth, b) osmotic rupture, or c) surface-catalyzed nucleation (Cryobiology 45, 213-215). “Spearing” is not a recognized mode of cell damage in cryobiology.