[Morphologic changes in limb muscles under conditions of acute experimental ischemia and recirculation]

Acute ischemia was induced in the limbs of 48 dogs by wounding femoral vessels followed by hemostasis through ligation of the vessels or application of a tourniquet for 2, 4, 6 and 9 hours with subsequent blood flow restoration in the great vessels. Morphological changes were examined in the muscular tissues using light optic and ultrastructural techniques. The results showed that the vascular ligation caused reactive reversible nonspecific changes in the limb tissues, the magnitude of the changes was found to be associated with hypoxia duration. Tourniquet application is thought to induce a more severe injury and its 4-6-hour exposure leads to derangement of the compensatory and adaptative mechanisms responsible for homeostasis. The acute ischemia-induced structural changes found in the limb tissues may serve as a basis for morphological substantiation of the clinical classification developed by V. S. Savelyev and be useful for efficient treatment of post-ischemic disturbances.