In order to expand and combine clinical and basic science research opportunities on cardiac arrest, the Asphyxial Cardiac Arrest Rat Model, originally developed at the International Resuscitation Research Center in Pittsburgh, was introduced and adapted at the University of Magdeburg Medical Center. For better utilization of established morphological and biochemical evaluation techniques, the former Sprague-Dawley rat model was adapted for Wistar rats. Life-support procedures, especially controlled ventilation, had to be adjusted. Wistar rats seem to be more sensitive to asphyxia, resulting in significantly faster-developing cardiac arrest (time from ceasing ventilation to pulselessness: Wistar 2:43 min versus 3:28 min in Sprague-Dawley) and a tendentiously longer resuscitation time (37 versus 23 s). Furthermore, a trend towards a more pronounced secondary blood pressure depression was observed especially during the later half of the first hour after resuscitation. Post-mortem brain evaluations using conventional Nissl and haematoxylin-eosin staining techniques showed--most distinctly in the hippocampal CA1 region--delayed neuronal damage with a peak at 72 hours after resuscitation and with only a few neurons remaining after seven days of survival.