Analysis of "solution effects" injury. Equations for calculating phase diagram information for the ternary systems NaCl-dimethylsulfoxide-water and NaCl-glycerol-water.

Slowly frozen cells are said to be subject to solution effects injury. An understanding of the mechanism of solution effects injury depends upon an understanding of the compositional changes brought about in the extracellular solution during the freezing process. To facilitate analysis of the mechanisms of freezing injury during slow cooling, empirical equations have been developed which permit a description of these changes in composition for the NaCl-dimethylsulfoxide-water ternary system and for the NaCl-glycerol-water ternary system. The equations describe the region of the phase diagram in which compositional changes are brought about only as a result of the precipitation of ice. The present phase diagram equations may be rearranged to give expression for composition variables such as water content, salt concentration, unfrozen fraction of the solution, etc., which may be employed in the analysis of the relationship between solution composition and solution effects injury.