Affiliation:
1. Naval Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, Maryland 20889-5607
Abstract
Observations of bubble evolution in rats after decompression from air dives (O. Hyldegaard and J. Madsen. Undersea Biomed. Res. 16: 185–193, 1989; O. Hyldegaard and J. Madsen. Undersea Hyperbaric Med. 21: 413–424, 1994; O. Hyldegaard, M. Moller, and J. Madsen. Undersea Biomed. Res. 18: 361–371, 1991) suggest that bubbles may resolve more safely when the breathing gas is a heliox mixture than when it is pure O2. This is due to a transient period of bubble growth seen during switches to O2 breathing. In an attempt to understand these experimental results, we have developed a multigas-multipressure mathematical model of bubble evolution, which consists of a bubble in a well-stirred liquid. The liquid exchanges gas with the bubble via diffusion, and the exchange between liquid and blood is described by a single-exponential time constant for each inert gas. The model indicates that bubbles resolve most rapidly in spinal tissue, in adipose tissue, and in aqueous tissues when the breathing gas is switched to O2 after surfacing. In addition, the model suggests that switching to heliox breathing may prolong the existence of the bubble relative to breathing air for bubbles in spinal and adipose tissues. Some possible explanations for the discrepancy between model and experiment are discussed.
Publisher
American Physiological Society
Subject
Physiology (medical),Physiology
Cited by
9 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献