Electron microscopy was utilized in the studies of neurons in anteroparietal brain cortex of rats 30 and 130 days after their exposure to hypoxic hypoxia (HH). Besides normal neurons, dystrophic ones were found 30 days after the challenge. The changes were of either reversible (in most cells) or irreversible nature featuring chromatolysis and hyperchromatosis. Organelles distortions (structural changes in the nucleus, mitochondrial cristae destruction with vacuolization, cistern dilatation in Golgi complex, canalicular swelling of endoplasmic reticulum, polysomal disintegration in the perikaryon) were of an unspecific nature and persisted by the 130-th post-HH day. Compensatory and reparative events were only fairly pronounced. HH proves to be a reliable model to study neuron ultrastructure recovery after a considerable and diffuse lesion of the cells.

Hypoxic hypoxia in rats leads to reversible or irreversible neuronal damage, with some organelle distortions persisting up to 130 days post-hypoxic challenge.

[Ultrastructure of the cerebral cortical neurons in hypoxic hypoxia].

Key Takeaway: Hypoxic hypoxia in rats leads to reversible or irreversible neuronal damage, with some organelle distortions persisting up to 130 days post-hypoxic challenge.