title: Cryoprotection of red blood cells by 1,3-butanediol and 2,3-butanediol.
abstract: 1,3-Butanediol and 2,3-butanediol have been used in buffered solutions with 20, 30, or 35% (w/w) alcohol to cool erythrocytes to -196 degrees C at different cooling rates between 1 to 3500 degrees C/min, followed by slow or rapid rewarming. 1,3-butanediol shows the same shapes of red blood cell survival curves as 1,2-propanediol. Having nearly the same physical properties, they have comparable effects on cell survival. The classical maximum of survival for intermediate cooling rates and an increase for the highest cooling rates are observed. This increase seems to be correlated with the glass-forming tendency of the solution. After the fastest cooling rates, a warming rate of 5000 degrees C/min is sufficient to avoid cell damage, but a warming rate of 100-200 degrees C/min is not. Yet both of these rates would be insufficient to avoid the intracellular ice crystallization on warming. The damage on warming after fast cooling seems once again to be correlated with the transition from cubic to hexagonal ice. For all our results, 1,3-butanediol is like a "second" 1,2-propanediol and could be useful as a cryoprotectant for preservation by total vitrification. 2,3-Butanediol always gives extremely low survival rates, though it presents good physical properties. The crystallization of its hydrate seems to be lethal on cooling or on rewarming.
authors.affiliation: Département de Recherche Fondamentale, Unité INSERM 217, CEN.G 85 X, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mehl
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boutron
mesh_terms: D001793:Blood Preservation; D002072:Butylene Glycols / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D003451:Cryoprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D005615:Freezing; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D002072:Butylene Glycols; D003451:Cryoprotective Agents; C028491:1,3-butylene glycol; C026978:2,3-butylene glycol