Abstract
Micro-behavior of ice crystals and cells in the cell suspensions and the tissues during the freezing and thawing was visualized in three-dimensions using a confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) and a fluorescent dye. The CLSM noninvasively produced tomograms of the biological material on real time. Freezing pattern, morphology of ice crystals, and ice-cell interaction in the following three different processes were investigated qualitatively and analytically from the mechanical point of view: 1) directional solidification (extracellular-freezing) of human red blood cell suspensions, 2) directional-solidifications parallel and perpendicular to the direction of muscle fibers of the fresh pectoral muscles of chicken, and 3) recrystallization of ice crystals during the slow-warming of the rapidly-frozen muscle tissues.
