eli5 Why can human embryo’s be frozen but not human adult?
In: Biology
It’s much harder to flash freeze lots of cells at once. Adults are made up of 30 to 40 million cells. Frozen embryos are 100-120. Freezing a small number of cells lets you control more of the things that could go wrong, like the forming of ice crystals that damage cells.
EDIT: I’d intended to type 30 to 40 trillion, but either blanked on it or had an auto correct. Likely that I had a brain fart moment. That number is the number of cells which are genetically “you”. There are also trillions which are not “you” but are a part of the operation of your body and its biological functions.
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