Effect of in vivo hypoxic preconditioning on changes in intracellular calcium content induced by long-term anoxia in rat brain slices.

We studied changes in intracellular calcium content induced by 10-min anoxia in olfactory cortex slices from rats exposed to single or 3-fold moderate hypobaric hypoxia ("ascend" at 5000 m). Repeated preconditioning with moderate hypobaric hypoxia produced a neuroprotective effect. This treatment abolished pathological calcium overload in brain slices induced in vitro by 10-min test anoxia.