The Effect of Hyperbaric Exposure of 20 Atmospheres-Absolute (He-O2) on Sphingoglycolipids of Rat Tissues

Abstract

Accumulation of monoglycosyl ceramide occurs in plasma and red blood cells as well as chain elongation of fatty acids in liver glycolipids from rats subjected to a hyperbaric environment (N2-02) and rapid decompression (1). Helium is more advantageous to use in diving than N2 and has been substituted for N2 in the breathing mixture in deep sea diving experiments. However, helium can affect cellular metabolism at both ambient and high pressures (2-7). This report presents the changes in sphingoglycolipids of liver, kidney, lung and spleen in rats exposed to a gas mixture of He-02 at 1 atmosphere-absolute (ATA) and 20 ATA. Materials and Methods.Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (five animals per group) with an average weight of 300 g were placed in a chamber at 5 PM. The chamber was flushed with 100% oxygen to remove all the residual nitrogen and then flushed with 100% helium until an approximate 75-25% He-02 mixture was reached. This mixture was monitored by gas liquid chromatography. The pressure was increased with 100% helium at a rate of 0.5 ATA per min to 20 ATA. Animals were held at 20 ATA pressure until 7 AM the following morning.