HISTOPATHOLOGIC EFFECT OF ANOXIA ON THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

Abstract

Damage to the nervous system as a consequence of anoxia has been produced in many ways, but most of the investigations dealing with this subject have borne but slight relation to the problem of aviation. Illuminating and important as many of these previous clinical and experimental studies have been, they have not, with few exceptions, been concerned with precisely the conditions met with in aviation. The purpose of the present investigation was to determine whether histologic alterations were produced in the central nervous system after repeated, sublethal exposures to an atmosphere deficient in oxygen; to measure the amount of oxygen to which the nervous system was exposed, and to correlate that amount, if possible, with the nature of the histologic process. The extensive use of the high flying airplane in war, with its accompanying hazards of failure of oxygen supply, jumps from high altitudes and the possible cumulative effect of