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Freezing and Vitrification of Red Cells, Recollections and Predictions

  • Chapter
Transfusion Medicine: Quo Vadis? What Has Been Achieved, What Is to Be Expected

Part of the book series: Developments in Hematology and Immunology ((DIHI,volume 36))

Abstract

The subject of red cell freezing has been reviewed repeatedly since the first report of glycerol cryoprotection by Audrey Smith in 1950 [1]. At least four books on the subject have been published [2-5] and the science, the technology and the applications have been so exhaustively documented that yet another review of red cell freezing seems largely redundant. What is still missing, however, are those obscure and statistically insignificant events that never found their way into print, often for good reason, and known only to a few of the rapidly diminishing ranks of octogenarians who were there at the creation. The goal of this review, therefore, is not only to summarize the topic as it is understood today but also to recall the human side of some of the milestones in the development of red cell freezing, many of them autobiographical.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cryopreservation and Transfusion Program, Naval Medical Research Center, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    H. T. Meryman

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  1. H. T. Meryman
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Blood Bank Noord Nederland, Groningen, The Netherlands

    C. Th. Smit Sibinga

  2. Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

    J. D. Cash

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Meryman, H.T. (2001). Freezing and Vitrification of Red Cells, Recollections and Predictions. In: Sibinga, C.T.S., Cash, J.D. (eds) Transfusion Medicine: Quo Vadis? What Has Been Achieved, What Is to Be Expected. Developments in Hematology and Immunology, vol 36. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1735-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-1735-1_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-5700-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4615-1735-1

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