Freezing-Induced Cell-Fluid-Matrix Interaction in Engineered Tissue

Freezing of biological tissues occurs in cryomedicine applications such as cryosurgery and cryopreservation. Although cellular level biophysics during freezing and thawing (F/T) has been extensively studied, tissue level biophysics is not fully understood yet. Especially, the effects of F/T on the functionalities of tissue are not well understood so that the outcomes of cryomedicine applications are highly tissue-type dependent [1]. Although many of the functionalities are associated with the extracellular matrix (ECM), the effect of F/T on ECM microstructure has been overlooked. Quantitative understanding on the post-thaw ECM structure is rarely available, but it is essential to design and improve cryopresevation and cryotherapy protocols for a wide variety of native and engineered tissues.