Cryopreservation is a process that is responsible for freezing organs and tissues at a very low temperature, in order to preserve them which is possible but in the process of thawing there are problems, as they form ice crystals, which damage the tissues.

Now scientists from the University of Minnesota led by John Bischof made great strides in this regard. Using a new technique, scientists have been able to cryopreserve human and pig parts, in addition to thawing them and preserving intact tissues.

"This is the first time anyone has been able to scale to a larger biological system and demonstrate a successful, fast and uniform warming of hundreds of degrees Celsius per minute of preserved tissue without damaging the tissue," said John Bischof.

A transmission electron microscope image shows the mesoporous silica coated iron oxide nanoparticles used in the tissue heating process.

By using nanoparticles to heat tissues at an equal rate, scientists were able to prevent the formation of destructive ice crystals. They mixed silica-coated iron oxide nanoparticles in a solution and applied an external magnetic field to generate heat. The process was tested on several samples of human and pig tissue, and showed that the nanocalentation reaches the same thawing speed as the use of conventional convection techniques.

These tests were performed on different human and pig tissues, making nano particles to date the most effective solution to the problem of thawing.

These advances could help us improve the system of organ transplants, because many people donate their organs but the logistics to take them to the necessary place is often not possible for the period that supports being alive the organ outside the human body.