Specific Features of Immediate Ultrastructural Changes in Brain Cortex Mitochondria of Rats with Different Tolerance to Hypoxia under Various Modes of Hypoxic Exposures

Abstract

We performed ultrastructural study of cerebral cortex mitochondria in rats with different tolerance to oxygen deficiency (low resistant and highly resistant specimens). Low resistant rats were characterized by the prevalence of mitochondria with lightened matrix due to the nondense packing of cristae. By contrast, mitochondria of highly resistant animals had the dense packing of cristae. The structure of mitochondria underwent adaptive changes at 14-10% O₂ in the inspired air. Under these conditions, structural characteristics of the cerebral cortex in hypoxia-sensitive rats resembled those in resistant animals. The decrease in O₂ concentration to 8% was accompanied by ultrastructural signs of mitochondrial damage, which correlated with de-energization of the cell and dysfunction of adaptive signaling systems. Ultrastructural features of cerebral cortex mitochondria in animals with low and high tolerance to acute oxygen deficiency confirm the hypothesis that they are associated with two different “functionaland-metabolic portraits”.