Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 2
Survival from the Cold Winter: Freezing
and Ice Crystallization Inhibition
by Antifreeze Proteins
Ning Du, Guoyang William Toh, and Xiang Yang Liu
Abstract
Antifreeze proteins (AFPs), occurring in some polar animals, plants,
fungi, and other organisms, are capable of inhibiting ice freezing at subzero
temperatures. The application of AFPs can be found in medicine and industry
where low temperature storage is required and ice crystallization is damaging.
This includes improved protection of blood platelets and human organs at low
temperature, increasing the effectiveness of the destruction of malignant tumors in
cryosurgery, and improvement of the smooth texture of frozen foods. In this review,
the antifreeze mechanisms of AFPs are discussed, focusing on their inhibition
effects on both ice nucleation and crystal growth. AFPs have been found to act
in two stages. As a precursor to ice growth, ice nucleation is suppressed by the
surface adsorption of AFPs to both ice nucleus and ice nucleators. At the second
stage, in cases where inhibition of ice nucleation has had partial or no success, AFPs
proceed to inhibit the growth of ice by adsorbing on specific surfaces of ice. Based
The authors Ning Du, Guoyang William Toh, contributed equally to this work.
N. Du
Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, National University
of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, 117542, Singapore
Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology Center, Block S16, 3 Science Drive 2,
Singapore, 117543 Singapore
G.W. Toh
Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, National University
of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, 117542, Singapore
X.Y. Liu (
)
College of Materials, Xiamen University, 422 Si Ming Nan Road, Xiamen, 361005, P.R. China
Department of Physics and Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, National University
of Singapore, 2 Science Drive 3, 117542, Singapore
e-mail:
phyliuxy@nus.edu.sg
