Cold preservation injury of NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase.

Mitochondrial injury caused by cold preservation without oxygenation was studied polarographically. Respiration activity with glutamate as substrate was impaired after 6 hours preservation with Euro-Collin's solution at 4 degrees C, while that with succinate as substrate was maintained at the control level after 24 hours preservation. Membrane potential across mitochondrial membrane in state 4 was not damaged after 24 hours preservation. These results indicate that NADH-ubiquinone oxidoreductase is impaired during cold and simple preservation.