Freeze preservation of pea meristems: cell survival

Abstract

Microscopic examination of semithin and ultrathin median longitudinal sections of shoot apical meristems revealed little adverse effect from the dimethyl sulfoxide treatments and the differentiation medium used. Freeze preservation was followed by storage in liquid nitrogen for 1 h. In the meristems which remained viable most of the actively growing cells were located on primordial leaf tissues and in the axillary bud and stipule meristematic areas. Growth generally resumed at many sites, and some of these were close to or in the "dome" area.