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The purpose of the article was to analyze the histological changes in the gastrocnemius muscle under conditions of experimental ischemia of different duration and simultaneously administration of C60 fullerenes as an antioxidant.The experiment was conducted on inbred Wistar line rats weighing 140-160 g. The animals were divided in groups: control; animals with ischemia (1, 2 and 3 hours); control, animals with ischemia (1, 2 and 3 h), animals with ischemia (1, 2 and 3 h) and C60 fullerenes administration. Unilateral vascular ischemia was induced by tourniquet ligating the main arteries. Histologic processing of the tissue was carried out according to standard histological methods, stained with Van Gison method. Morphometric indices (thickness of muscle fibers and the size of interfibrillary space) were measured using the VideoTest Morphology 5.0 program. The therapeutic effect of an aqueous colloidal solution of C60 fullerenes on the level of pathomorphological changes in the test muscle was also analyzed. The musculus gastrocnemius is resistant to light ischemic damages under condition of intraperitoneal administration of C60 fullerenes, which are potent antioxidants and are able to absorb free radicals effectively. However, studies have shown that with increasing the duration of ischemic damage, the protective effect of fullerenes decreases in proportion to the duration of ischemia. In particular, the initial tendency to the destruction of muscle fibers, the disturbance of the membrane integrity, the replacement of the muscle tissue by the connective tissue , the severance of sarcomeres, the loss of the transverse striated , the absence of nuclei, the hyperemia of the capillary duct are noted. Necrotic-destructive changes that occur due to the excess of no inactivated superoxide and hydroxide radicals also observed. Thus, the laboratory study can serve as a basis for the development of drugs for muscle pathologies, and will help to develop a comprehensive methodology for the treatment of early stages of ischemic damage to human skeletal muscle.