Vitreous cryopreservation maintains the function of vascular grafts

Avoidance of ice formation during cooling can be achieved by vitrification, which is defined as solidification in an amorphous glassy state that obvia tes ice nucleation and growth. We show that a vitrification approach to sto ring vascular tissue results in markedly improved tissue function compared with a standard method involving freezing. The maximum contractions achieve d in vitrified vessels were >80% of fresh matched controls with similar dru g sensitivities, whereas frozen vessels exhibited maximal contractions belo w 30% of controls and concomitant decreases in drug sensitivity. In vivo st udies of vitrified vessel segments in an autologous transplant model showed no adverse effects of vitreous cryopreservation compared with fresh tissue grafts.