Scientists from the University of Pretoria in South Africa have developed a new, non-toxic, cryopreservant liquid that would make possible the preservation of organs at very low temperatures. Efforts at doing so had been frustrated till now because extreme cold damages cell membranes beyond repair. The researchers have just resuscitated a rat's heart, frozen to a temperature of -196C. The team plans to transplant a cryopreserved pig's heart into a live animal, later this year (New Scientist, Vol1S1, No 2049).
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