What sugar floods wood frog cells to act as an intracellular cryoprotectant during freezing?
Answer
Glucose
The wood frog employs a sophisticated biochemical defense mechanism to survive freezing. As winter approaches, the frog's liver metabolizes its large internal stores of glycogen, converting it into massive amounts of glucose. This glucose then circulates and floods every cell in the body. The primary function of this sugary solution is twofold: it significantly lowers the internal freezing point of the cellular fluid and, crucially, it binds the water molecules within the cells. By binding this water, the glucose prevents the formation of lethal intracellular ice crystals, which would otherwise puncture delicate cellular structures, and mitigates dangerous internal dehydration that accompanies extracellular freezing.
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