Factors affecting the repair of sublethal freeze-thaw damage in mammalian cells: II. The effect of ouabain☆

Abstract Mammalian cells were able to repair sublethal damage sustained during exposure to freeze-thaw conditions if they were incubated at 37 °C during the repair period. Repair was also observed when the cells were incubated at 37 °C in medium containing 10 −4 m ouabain but this was not the case with 10 −3 m ouabain. Cells exposed to either 10 −3 or 10 −4 m ouabain before freezing and thawing showed reduced survival indicating the requirement for the prior operation of the (Na + − K + ) — ATPase system to avoid additional lethal damage.