Ultrastructural hypoxic changes in Ammon's horn and Purkinje cells

Guinea pigs were exposed for varying periods to different degrees of hypoxia by respiration of controlled mixtures of O 2-N 2 and the CNS subjected to both light and electron microscopic examination after aldehyde fixation by perfusion. The subacute anoxia experiments revealed an alteration in the rough endoplasmic reticulum of the Purkinje cells consisting of the formation of ‘paired cisternae’. In the chronic anoxia experiments, small ultrastructural alterations of the same cells were found in association with the appearance of monoparticulate glycogen. The authors debate the significance of these ultrastructural alterations in relation to the damage found in other organs.