| Abstract: | The myocardium of the right and left ventricles of rats during adaptation for 12 months to high altitudes (3200 m above sea level) was studied. During the animals' long stay in the mountains hypertrophy mainly of the right and partly of the left ventricles developed. Hyperplasia and hypertrophy of individual organelles, especially mitochondria, were found in most cardiomyocytes of both ventricles. In animals adapted to high altitudes succinate dehydrogenase activity in the mitochondria was higher than in the control. The results are evidence of intensification of intracellular metabolism, reflecting compensatory and adaptive responses of the organs.Department of Electron Microscopy, Central Research Laboratory, and Problem Laboratory, Kirghiz Medical Institute. Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 84, No. 7, pp. 109–112, July, 1977. |
