Groundbreaking study revives activity in frozen brains

Freezing a brain usually ends the same way as a banana: structurally…not great. But a new study suggests scientists have taken a step towards cracking the code when it comes to cryogenic preservation.

For the first time, scientists have developed a method that freezes the brain tissue of mice in a way that preserves some of its function after being thawed.

Brain freeze breakthrough

The technique, developed by researchers in Germany, relies on a rapid cooling process called vitrification that turns tissue into a glass-like state, instead of forming ice crystals.

• The crystallization process typically shreds the brain’s delicate structures during freezing.
• But vitrification sidesteps that problem by preventing the crystals from forming in the first place.

In the scientists’ experiment, they froze slices of mouse brains containing the hippocampus—the region responsible for memory and learning—at temperatures as low as –196°C (–320.8°F).

After thawing, the sample still showed signs of life: cell membranes stayed intact, mitochondria kept working, and neurons responded to electrical signals close to normal levels.

• The tissue even displayed long-term potentiation, a neural process tied to learning and memory.
• The team later froze entire mouse brains for up to eight days, and still recovered functioning neural pathways in samples taken after thawing.

But…Scientists say we shouldn’t expect a real-life Captain America anytime soon. Success rates were limited in the study, and researchers couldn’t test whether memories survived the process.

For now, more realistic applications of their findings include organ preservation and/or protecting brain tissue after severe injury.