Selective neuronal vulnerability to hypoxia in vitro.

Hippocampal slices were subjected to a sequence of hypoxic periods of progressively increasing duration. In all slices, synaptic transmission returned during reoxygenation in the fascia dentata, but not in CA1. Thus, the relative vulnerability of CA1 and the fascia dentata to ischemia in situ can be replicated by a purely hypoxic insult in vitro.