[Early changes in the cerebral cortex in acute ischemia (light--electron microscopic study)].

Studies on the cortex of rats during different periods following ligation of the carotid arteries demonstrated an early appearance of ischemic changes, which were characterized by different states of the nervous cells, glial elements and capillaries. The largest group consisted of neurons of the deep cortical layers, which showed reactive states of the nucleus and nucleoli, as well as signs of chromatolysis in the cytoplasma. Less distributed form of pathology involved changes of the "dark" type, involving small stellite and pyramidal neurons of the upper cortical layer. Changes of the glial elements may be mainly considered as signs of oedema and partial melting. These changes demonstrate not only a different sensibility of neurons of the upper and lower cortical layers, but different mechanisms of the structural regulation in the cell metabolism, providing its optimal level and organization for each functional state.