Effect of air, heliox, and oxygen breathing on air bubbles in aqueous tissues in the rat.

Our purpose was to examine the behavior of air bubbles in three non-lipid tissues (skeletal muscle, tendon, and the anterior chamber of the eye) during breathing of air, helium-oxygen (heliox, 80:20), or oxygen. Air bubbles were injected into skeletal muscle or tendon in rats after decompression from a 1-h air exposure at 3.5 atm abs (355 kPa) or into the anterior chamber of the rate eye without any previous pressure exposure. The bubbles were studied by photomicroscopy at 1 atm abs (101 kPa) during either air breathing or during air breathing followed by heliox or O 2 breathing