Evidence for two modes of hypothermia damage in five cell lines.

The Arrhenius plots of inactivation (killing) rates of five mammalian cell lines, V-79 Chinese hamster lung, mouse L-929, mouse neuroblastoma, human 18LU, and human erythrocytes, exposed to hypothermia contain a break somewhere between 5 and 10 degrees C caused by a change from positive to negative slope, which corresponds to the minimum inactivation rate. This implies that there are two distinct mechanisms of hypothermic damage above and below the minimum inactivation rate temperature in a system that is uncomplicated by previous or simultaneous hypoxia. Hence, having two distinct mechanisms for hypothermia damage is not unique to the Chinese hamster cell line. This suggests that the optimum aerobic hypothermic storage temperature for human cells and tissues is not 0 degree C, but somewhere in the range of 5 to 10 degrees C.