A sample that avoids ice during cooling can still crystallize during warming.
The return through risky temperatures
As a vitrified solution warms, molecular mobility increases. If the sample spends enough time in conditions that allow crystallization, ice can form. This is devitrification. Existing small crystals can also enlarge through recrystallization.
Speed and uniformity
A large sample can develop temperature differences between its surface and center. These differences complicate the control of crystallization and can create mechanical stress. Nanowarming is a research approach in which distributed magnetic nanoparticles generate heat under an alternating magnetic field.
Why this matters
Good cooling cannot compensate for damaging warming conditions.
A real-world connection
Organ-preservation research uses nanowarming to address the challenge of heating a larger volume rapidly and evenly.
Key vocabulary
What does devitrification mean?
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Related research papers
These studies focus on particular cells, tissues, or organs. Their results do not apply automatically to every biological sample.
- Formation of extracellular and intracellular ice during warming of vitrified mouse morulae and its effect on embryo survival ↗Directly examines ice formation during warming in a mouse embryo model.
- Extreme rapid warming yields high functional survivals of vitrified 8-cell mouse embryos even when suspended in a half-strength vitrification solution and cooled at moderate rates to −196 °C ↗Tests how warming rate changes functional embryo survival.
- Vitrification and nanowarming enable long-term organ cryopreservation and life-sustaining kidney transplantation in a rat model ↗An animal study of whole-organ vitrification and nanowarming; human organ banking remains unproven.
Other sources & further reading
- Han et al. (2023). Vitrification and nanowarming enable long-term organ cryopreservation and life-sustaining kidney transplantation in a rat model. Nature Communications. ↗Animal study; this finding does not establish clinical human organ banking.