Expert: Walter Hintz - 7/24/2008

Question
QUESTION: My purpose of writing in, is to hope to seek for an answer. Pardon me for my bad English.

I would like to know if there is any possibilities of reviving a canine after freezing? Is there a chance whereby (layman's thinking) the subject is thawed with a correct method (which I came across that it is an important procedure), then do a blood transfusion followed by restarting the heart.

Very sorry, I am not a Bio-Sci person. I am desperately seeking an answer to this question.

Hope I am writing to the right department.

ANSWER: When tissue is frozen slowly ice crystals form in the cells and the cell is destroyed. Some structures like embryos and sperm cells and invertebrates can be frozen rapidly and not destroyed.  However freezing and reviving an animal is not possible.  Too many organs are involved and the enzymes are deactivated.

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QUESTION: Is there way to reproduce or replace cells if it is destroyed? Can enzymes bu re-activated?

Really no chance of reviving the animal? Did anyone ever perform this test? Is this "rule" a theory or practical?

Answer
Dead cells are dead cells and enzymes cannot re activated. I do not know any specific studies but a lot of frozen animals have been found and could not be reveved. Some fish and amphibians hav ebeen trapped in ice and survived but that is because they were not internally frozen.