Experimental Study of Advanced Cryopreservation Strategies for the Cardiovascular System: Superiority of Vitrification over Standard slow Freezing in Murine Vessels and Efficacy of Ultrafast Rewarming by High-Intensity focused Ultrasound (HIFU) in Cardiac Recovery from Deep Hypothermia (-6ºC)

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Despite major therapeutic advances, many patients progress to stages where heart or vascular tissues transplantation becomes the only viable treatment option. However, donor availability is critically limited, and cardiovascular grafts are highly susceptible to immune rejection. Currently, cold storage at 0–4 ºC is the gold standard for sample preservation, yet it maintains viability for only a few hours in hearts and a few days in vessels. Beyond this period, ischemic and structural damage severely compromise their functionality, rendering cold storage unsuitable for long-term preservation. The aim of this thesis is the application of advanced cryopreservation strategies for the cardiovascular system, using murine aorta and heart as representative models. The results demonstrate that vitrification presents a feasible and effective approach for vessel preservation compared with standard slow freezing, through the use of an optimized cryoprotectant cocktail and a controlled cryoprotectant loading-unloading approach that maintains high cellular viability and prevents structural damage. Moreover, the use of High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) in hearts enables the recovery of cardiac contractile function after deep hypothermia (-6 ºC), showing superior cellular viability and heart performance compared with traditional cold storage, thereby supporting its potential suitability for subsequent transplantation. Overall, this work highlights that the combined application of these advanced technologies constitutes a significant step forward toward the goal of organ banking, specifically enhancing the cryopreservation of the invaluable biological specimens such as blood vessels and the heart.

Author dc:creator

• Encabo, Laura

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Risco, Ramón

Statement dc:rights

• Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/11441/184825

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:idus.us.es:11441/184825