The mature human nervous system faces two main threats to its integrity and function--catastrophic oxygen deprivation and neurodegenerative disease.Currently,there are no widely accepted clinical protocols that can prevent devastating brain damage caused by hypoxia.Given the gravity of this problem,much experimental attention is now focused on determining the mechanisms of neuronal injury and considering the therapeutic intervention.Up to date,many initial works on invertebrate models of neuronal injury help to identify the key molecules and biological responses involved.In an invertebrate model-Caenorhabditis elegans (C.elegans),hypoxic conditions can result in the necrosis of various cell types,abnormal axonal morphology,the fragmentation of muscle nuclei,behavioral defects and death.