Dimethyl sulfoxide protects tightly coupled mitochondria from freezing damage.
Dimethyl sulfoxide prevented loss of respiratory control and decrease in efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation when plant mitochondria were stored in liquid nitrogen. Respiration was severely inhibited and was not stimulated by adenosine diphosphate when mitochondria were frozen in liquid nitrogen without dimethyl sulfoxide. Thus, isolated mitochondria provide a model system for the study of the effects of freezing on biological membranes and of the prevention, by dimethyl sulfoxide, of freezing damage.
D000227:Adenine Nucleotides / Q000378:metabolism; D003451:Cryoprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005615:Freezing; D005638:Fruit; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D009584:Nitrogen; D010085:Oxidative Phosphorylation; D010101:Oxygen Consumption; D010945:Plants, Edible / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D011048:Polarography
D000227:Adenine Nucleotides; D003451:Cryoprotective Agents; D009584:Nitrogen; D004121:Dimethyl Sulfoxide