Data from: Concurrent effects of cold and hyperkalaemia cause insect chilling injury

Chilling injury and death are the ultimate consequence of low temperature
exposure for chill susceptible insects, and low temperature tolerance is
considered one of the most important factors determining insect
distribution patterns. The physiological mechanisms that cause chilling
injury are unknown, but chronic cold exposure that causes injury is
consistently associated with elevated extracellular [K+], and cold
tolerant insects possess a greater capacity to maintain ion balance at low
temperatures. Here, we use the muscle tissue of the migratory locust
(Locusta migratoria) to examine whether chill injury occurs during cold
exposure or following return to benign temperature and we specifically
examine if elevated extracellular [K+], low temperature, or a combination
thereof causes cell death. We find that in vivo chill injury occurs during
the cold exposure (when extracellular [K+] is high) and that there is
limited capacity for repair immediately following the cold stress.
Further, we demonstrate that that high extracellular [K+] causes cell
death in situ, but only when experienced at low temperatures. These
findings strongly suggest that that the ability to maintain ion
(particularly K+) balance is critical to insect low temperature survival,
and highlight novel routes of study in the mechanisms regulating cell
death in insects in the cold.