The early ultrastructural alterations in the rabbit cerebral and cerebellar cortex after compression ischaemia

The ultrastructural alterations in the rabbit cerebral and cerebellar cortex resulting from 30 minutes complete, permanent cerebral ischaemia were studied. The ischaemia was induced by raising the intracranial pressure (ICP) above the systolic arterial pressure (compression ischaemia). Immediately after releasing the ICP the brain was fixed by intravascular glutaraldehyde perfusion. Samples from the cerebral and cerebellar cortex were processed for electron microscopy. The ultrastructural changes were relatively minor; there was a generalised, slight intracellular oedema, most prominent in the subpial area; the nuclear chromatin was clumped, the endoplasmic reticulum and cisternae of the golgi apparatus became somewhat dilated, the inner matrix of the slightly swollen mitochondria showed increased electron lucency, and microtubules and ribosomes began to loose their compact structure. These changes, unaccompanied by any extensive volumetric change of any cellular compartment, agree well with the recently presented hypothesis of two different types of anoxic-ischaemic nerve cell injury. This cellular reaction to complete, permanent compression ischaemia represents the type of injury that is seen resulting from ischaemic insults during which no flow of fluid irrigates the ischaemically injured cells.