The Brain without Oxygen

This is a discussion of the problem of how any interruption in energy supply to the brain for more than a few minutes results in irreversible damage. From a comparative perspective, the work presents findings concerning the pathological processes occurring in brain hypoxia and discusses in detail the defence mechanisms that allow the brains of a few vertebrate species to survive anoxia for long periods of time. It describes the processes underlying the enhanced hypoxid tolerance shown by the brains of the mammalian neonate, the hibernating mammal and the diving marine mammal. The book identifies the key processes that are protected in anoxia tolerant animals, which allow insights into the survival hierarchy of the many systems that collapse in the energy-deprived mammalian brain.