Summary
Rats were exposed to 100% oxygen at 8 ata up to a severe generalized convulsion. Their brains and cervical cords were investigated by means of electron and light microscopy. After short survival times of 1 and 3 hours we found nerve cell lesions classified as hyperchromatic cell shrinkage. Animals which were sacrificed up to 24 hours after exposure revealed plasmolytic changes of the nerve cells. A possible correlation between these two patterns of cellular damage is discussed in view of the electron microscopic findings. — The sites of predilection of the nerve cell lesions are the precentral area of the cervical spinal grey matter, the reticular substance of the medulla, the ventral cochlear nuclei, the corpus mamillare, and in particular the colliculi inferiores of the midbrain. — Pharmacological prevention of the oxygen convulsions and suppression of the pulmonary damage with alpha-sympatholytic agents did not produce any changes of the above findings. They are therefore considered to be morphological equivalents of the disturbances of cellular metabolism brought about by the hyperoxia.
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Herrn Prof. Dr. med. Drs. h.c. W. Bargmann danke ich für die Überlassung eines Arbeitsplatzes.
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v. Schnakenburg, K. Licht- und elektronenmikroskopische Untersuchungen der Hirngewebsveränderungen bei akuter experimenteller Sauerstoffvergiftung. Virchows Arch. Abt. B Zellpath. 8, 230–242 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02893531
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02893531