Neuronal-vascular relationship in experimental ischaemic anoxia

The concept of temporal and spatial relationship between neuronal and vascular changes in the central nervous system following different kinds of anoxia still remains debatable, in that it is uncertain if anoxia-ischaemia primarily produces vascular changes in the brain or it initially damages the cerebral neurons. The present investigation has been undertaken to denote the sequential relationship between neuronal and vascular changes following experimental cerebral ischaemic anoxia. Adult healthy albino rats were subjected to ischaemic anoxia by bilateral clamping of their common carotid arteries for varying intervals of 5, 10 and 15 min. The animals of each group were subsequently sacrificed on days 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 after the clamping procedure, for light-microscopic study of their brains. Our findings are characterized by initial vascular changes, which appear to have resulted in 'no-reflow' leading subsequently to neuronal damage. The latter, in turn, secondarily caused damage to the microvasculature.