III. Neuronal sensitivity to hyperoxia, hypercapnia, and inert gases at hyperbaric pressures. J Appl Physiol 95: 883-909, 2003; 10.1152/japplphysiol.00920.2002.-As ambient pressure increases, hydrostatic compression of the central nervous system, combined with increasing levels of inspired PO 2, PCO2, and N2 partial pressure, has deleterious effects on neuronal function, resulting in O 2 toxicity, CO2 toxicity, N2 narcosis, and high-pressure nervous syndrome. The cellular mechanisms responsible for each disorder have been difficult to study by using classic in vitro electrophysiological methods, due to the physical barrier imposed by the sealed pressure chamber and mechanical disturbances during tissue compression. Improved chamber designs and methods have made such experiments feasible in mammalian neurons, especially at ambient pressures Ͻ5 atmospheres absolute (ATA). Here we summarize these methods, the physiologically relevant test pressures, potential research applications, and results of previous research, focusing on the significance of electrophysiological studies at Ͻ5 ATA. Intracellular recordings and tissue PO 2 measurements in slices of rat brain demonstrate how to differentiate the neuronal effects of increased gas pressures from pressure per se. Examples also highlight the use of hyperoxia (Յ3 ATA O 2) as a model for studying the cellular mechanisms of oxidative stress in the mammalian central nervous system. anesthesia; carbon dioxide toxicity; free radicals; high-pressure nervous syndrome; membrane potential; nitrogen narcosis; oxidative stress; oxygen toxicity; polarographic oxygen electrode MOST HUMANS ARE PHYSIOLOGICALLY adapted to live and work near sea level, where ambient pressure is ϳ1 atmosphere absolute (ATA).1 Nonetheless, we exploit a continuum of barometric pressure (PB) ranging from the near vacuum of outer space, which we survive during Space Shuttle extravehicular activity by wearing a 4.3 lb./in.2 absolute (psia) pressure suit (30,300 ft. pressure equivalent, 0.29 ATA) (120, 220), down to the summit of Mt. Everest at 29,029 ft., where PB is 0.31 ATA (221), to ocean depths as great as 2,300 ft. of sea water (fsw), where PB increases to ϳ70 ATA (18). These situations are the pressure extremes of our inhabitable environment, which only relatively few highly trained individuals have ever occupied.Military personnel, medical personnel, and other humans, however, frequently encounter levels of hyperbaric pressure (i.e., Ͼ1 ATA) of lesser degrees in their normal work environments. Examples of moderate hyperbaric environments (e.g., Ͻ5 ATA) include the following: patients and medical attendants undergoing hyperbaric O 2 therapy (HBOT) (38,203); diving with an underwater breathing apparatus for recreational, professional (oil and salvage companies), and combat purposes (89); simulated dry and wet dives for hyperbaric research and dive training (217); and working in the compressed atmosphere of a subterranean environment (117). Abnormal work environments resulting from catastrophic accident...