Long-term effects of perinatal hypoxic exposure on microvascular endothelium in the rat neocortex

The long-term effects of perinatal hypoxic exposure followed by the administration of salifen, a GABA derivative, on morphological characteristics of the vascular wall elements in the neocortical microvasculature were studied in rats. Salifen, when applied at therapeutic doses, was established to exert an endothelial protective effect. It prevents such typical pathomorphological consequences of perinatal hypoxia as endothelial hypertrophy, the appearance of multiple intravascular endothelial outgrowths, narrowing of the capillary lumen, malformation of the lamina densa, swelling of perivascular astrocytes, and reactive changes in pericytes. In all neocortical layers, a density of blood vessel distribution across microvasculature as well as their cross-sectional area were found to be approximately the same in adult animals both in control and after hypoxic exposure followed by salifen administration. Changes and rearrangements in the capillary bed after hypoxic exposure and salifen administration were shown to occur at earlier developmental stages, while by the maturity period the structural parameters of microvasculature become stabilized. The endothelial protective effect of salifen promises high clinical efficiency of this preparation and serves as a basis for further studies in this direction.