Cultured Chinese hamster cells undergo apoptosis after exposure to cold but nonfreezing temperatures

Cultured Chinese hamster V79 fibroblast cells at the transition from logarithmic to stationary growth have been shown to undergo apoptosis (programmed cell death) after cold shock [B, L. Soloff, W. A. Nagle, A. J. Moss, Jr., K. J. Henle, and J. T. Crawford, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 145, 876–883 (1987)]. In this report, we show that about 95% of the cell population was susceptible to cold-induced apoptosis, and the amount of cell killing was dependent on the duration of hypothermia. Cells treated for 0–90 min at 0 °C exhibited an exponential survival curve with a D0 of 32 min; thus, even short exposures to the cold (e.g., 5 min) produced measurable cell killing. The cold-induced injury was not produced by freezing, because similar results were observed at 6 °C, and cell killing was not influenced by the cryoprotective agent dimethyl sulfoxide. Cold-induced apoptosis was inhibited by rewarming at 23 °C, compared to 37 °C, by inhibitors of macromolecular synthesis, such as cycloheximide, and by 0.8 mM zinc sulfate. The results suggest that apoptosis represents a new manifestation of cell injury after brief exposure to 0–6 °C hypothermia.