What Is Cryopreservation?

When most people hear the word cryopreservation, they probably think "cryo what?" If they do know anything about cryopreservation, it has to do with Walt Disney, Ted Williams, and a bunch of other frozen people waiting to be thawed out and cured hundreds of years from now. But for people who are unable to have children, cryogenics is a very different and personal topic. Cryopreservation in itself simply refers to freezing biological organisms. This may not seem like something terribly practical to study, but it can be used for suspended animation of people with illnesses, artificial reproduction, and many other practical causes.

In cryopreservation, special processes are used so the cell processes stop, but are only suspended. This state is called suspended animation. If proper techniques are used, the tissue can be thawed, revived, and regain function as if they were never frozen. Tissues can be revived after an indefinite amount of time making the possibilities of this process practically limitless.

 One practical application of cryopreservation is for artificial insemination. In this case, sperm are frozen at very low temperatures and can be stored for extended periods of time. When defrosted, they regain motility and can be inserted into a female to produce a pregnancy. This has been used widely in situations where conventional fertilization is not an option including: same sex couples, women who wish to start a family on their own, and couples where the man has become infertile or is no longer able to achieve an erection. When men are undergoing a surgery where they may lose erectile function or fertility, they are often given the option of donating sperm so they have the possibility of conceiving at a later date.

Another increasingly popular practice that involves cryopreservation is in vitro fertilization. In this process, and egg is fertilized with a sperm in a test tube and the resulting embryo is then frozen. The freezing process stops the further development of the embryo. At a later date, the embryo can be brought out of suspended animation and implanted in a female. Unlike artificial insemination, the woman who bears a in vitro fertilization child does not have to be the biological mother. This option is often used in couples who are unlikely to become pregnant on their own. If a woman is unable to carry a child to term, this method can be used to produce a surrogate pregnancy. Because of in vitro fertilization, there are now many parents who could never have previously had children. This method is also promising for other medical reasons. Many people freeze embryos and then decide not to use them. These embryos can then be used for stem cell research that may one day cure various diseases.

There's another use of artificial insemination and in vitro fertilization that many people don't consider. Human activities have caused significant and sometimes irreparable damage to various animal populations all over the world. Many species are beyond saving, but many are still within reach if we take proper methods. Cryopreservation has been proven effective reproductive efforts in various animal species. It can be used to breed animals that are otherwise not able to be put together, but are still important to the gene pool. Animals can be bred without having to be moved. The gene pool in the wild can also be enhanced by inseminating wild females with the sperm of captive males. This whole process has significantly improved out chances of saving many animal species.

While cryopreservation has been vastly helpful in the process of artificial reproduction, there are many other uses of this fantastic tool; many of which are still being discovered. This is definitely a technology to keep an eye on. Plus, you never know; maybe one day we will be able to revive people who have been cryogenically preserved and cure them of their illnesses.