Vitrification agents in cryonics
Today’s post on 21st Century Medicine’s vitrification agent M22 completes the series on vitrification agents in cryonics. To date, three different vitrification agents have been used for cryopreservation of humans: B2C (at Alcor from 2001-2005), VM-1 (at the Cryonics Institute since 2005) and M22 (at Alcor since 2005).
Perhaps the most encouraging development in cryonics is that Alcor’s current vitrification agent, M22, is not only the least toxic cryoprotectant in the history of cryonics, it is also the state of the art in mainstream cryobiology research for vitrification of complex organs.
It is doubtful if the state of the art in vitrification in cryobiological research would be where it is today without the incentives provided by cryonics to search for a cryoprotectant that enables reversible vitrification of the brain without ice formation and minimal toxicity.
The first vitrification agent in cryonics: B2C