[Structural reaction of skeletal muscle mitochondria to deep hypothermia in the experiment]

The reaction of locomotor muscle mitochondria was studied in white rats during different periods of deep hypothermia. An acute exposure to cold produced substantial changes of the muscle cellular mitochondrial apparatus, such as matrix swelling, crysts destruction with a significant decrease in mitochondrial profiles on the periphery of muscle fibers. Destructive and degenerative mitochondrial lesions were greater in prolonged hypothermia and subsequent warming. Such structural reaction of locomotor muscle mitochondria could reveal a substantial insufficiency of the muscle cellular energy apparatus during experimental hypothermia.