Review of biomaterial thermal property measurements in the cryogenic regime and their use for prediction of equilibrium and non-equilibrium freezing applications in cryobiology

It is well accepted in cryobiology that the temperature history and cooling rates experienced in biomaterials during freezing procedures correlate strongly with biological outcome. Therefore, heat transfer measurement and prediction in the cryogenic regime is central to the field. Although direct measurement of temperature history (i.e. heat transfer) can be performed, accuracy is usually achieved only for local measurements within a given system and cannot be readily generalized to another system without the aid of predictive models. The accuracy of these models rely upon thermal properties which are known to be highly dependent on temperature, and in the case of significant cryoprotectant loading, also on crystallized fraction. In this work, we review the available thermal properties of biomaterials in the cryogenic regime. The review shows a lack of properties for many biomaterials in the subzero temperature domain, and especially for systems with cryoprotective agents. Unfortunately, use of values from the limited data available (usually only down to −40 °C) lead to an underestimation of thermal property change (i.e. conductivity rise and specific heat drop due to ice crystallization) with lower temperatures. Conversely, use of surrogate values based solely on ice thermal properties lead to an overestimation of thermal property change for most biomaterials. Additionally, recent work extending the range of available thermal properties to −150 °C has shown that the thermal conductivity will drop in both PBS and tissue (liver) due to amorphous/glassy phases (versus crystalline) of biomaterials with the addition of cryoprotective additives such as glycerol. Thus, we investigated the implications of using approximated or constant property values versus measured temperature-dependent values for predicting temperature history during freezing in PBS (phosphate-buffered saline) and porcine liver with and without cryoprotectants (glycerol). Using measured property values (thermal conductivity, specific heat, and latent heat of phase change) of porcine liver, a standard was created which showed that values based on surrogate ice properties under-predicted cooling times, while constant properties (i.e. based on limited data reported near the freezing point) over-predicted cooling times. Additionally, a new iterative numerical method that accommodates non-equilibrium cooling effects as a function of time and position (i.e. crystallization versus amorphous phase) was used to predict temperature history during freezing in glycerol loaded systems. Results indicate that in addition to the increase in cooling times due to the lowering of thermal diffusivity with more glycerol, non-equilibrium effects such as the prevention of maximal crystallization (i.e. amorphous phases) will further increase required cooling times. It was also found that the amplified effect of non-equilibrium cooling and crystallization with system size prevents the thermal history to be described with non-dimensional lengths, such as was possible under equilibrium cooling. These results affirm the need to use accurate thermal properties that incorporate temperature dependence and crystallized fraction. Further studies are needed to extract thermal properties of other important biomaterials in the subzero temperature domain and to develop accurate numerical methods which take into account non-equilibrium cooling events encountered in cryobiology when partial or total vitrification occurs.