The Brain without Oxygen: Causes of Failure – Mechanisms for Survival

This text discusses how any interruption in energy supply to the human brain of more than a few minutes results in irreversible damage. It identifies the key processes that are protected in anoxic-tolerant animals, which allowed new insights into the survival hierarchy of the many systems that collapse in the energy-deprived mammalian brain. It also creates new paths for successful clinical intervention. The text also describes the processes underlying the enhanced hypotoxic tolerance shown by the brains of the mammalian neonate, the hibernating mammal and the diving marine mammal.