Functional recovery of the adult murine hippocampus after cryopreservation by vitrification

German A, Akdas EY, Flügel-Koch C, Erterek E, Frischknecht R, Fejtová A, Winkler J, Alzheimer C, Zheng F (2026)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2026

Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America National Academy of Sciences

Book Volume: 123

Article Number: e2516848123

Journal Issue: 10

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2516848123

Abstract

Cryopreserving the adult brain is challenging due to damage from ice formation, and traditional freezing methods fail to maintain neural architecture and function. Vitrification offers a promising alternative but has not been surveyed in the brain. Here, we demonstrate short-term recovery of the adult murine hippocampus after vitrification of brain slices and of the whole brain in situ. Key features of the hippocampus are preserved, including structural integrity, metabolic responsiveness, neuronal excitability, and synaptic transmission and plasticity. Notably, hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) was well preserved, indicating that the cellular machinery of learning and memory remains operational. These findings extend known biophysical limits for cerebral hypothermic shutdown by demonstrating recovery after complete cessation of molecular mobility in the vitreous state and thus contribute to achieving the objective of structural and functional preservation of neural tissue.

Authors with CRIS profile

Alexander German Department of Molecular Neurology Enes Yagiz Akdas Professur für Molekulare Psychiatrie Cassandra Flügel-Koch Medizinische Fakultät Ezgi Erterek Sonderforschungsbereich 1540/1 - Erforschung der Mechanik des Gehirns (EBM): Verständnis, Engineering und Nutzung mechanischer Eigenschaften und Signale in der Entwicklung, Physiologie und Pathologie des zentralen Nervensystems Renato Frischknecht Lehrstuhl für Tierphysiologie Anna Fejtová Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Jürgen Winkler Professur für Molekulare Neurologie Christian Alzheimer Lehrstuhl für Physiologie Fang Zheng Lehrstuhl für Physiologie

How to cite

APA:

German, A., Akdas, E.Y., Flügel-Koch, C., Erterek, E., Frischknecht, R., Fejtová, A.,... Zheng, F. (2026). Functional recovery of the adult murine hippocampus after cryopreservation by vitrification. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 123(10). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2516848123

MLA:

German, Alexander, et al. "Functional recovery of the adult murine hippocampus after cryopreservation by vitrification." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 123.10 (2026).

BibTeX: Download