Biophysical chemical aspects of cellular cryobehavior.

Freezing tolerance and resistance in nature are among the most important and challenging aspects of biochemical adaptation to extreme environments. Some biochemical strategies are known but their mechanism is still poorly understood. Cryopreservation of cells and tissues of sensitive organisms is still generally based on physical chemistry rather than on biophysical chemical mechanisms. This paper describes the main aspects of these problems and features new trends in their study.