The effect of the simulation of a prolonged dive to 100 m in a helium-oxygen environment on human erythrocytes

Three volunteers participated in the experiments to study the osmotic resistance and elemental composition of the erythrocytes during a 100-meter simulated saturation dive in He-O2 environment. The 15-day hyperbaric exposure resulted in a significant increase of erythrocytes resistance in response to a changed osmotic environment which was also maintained at an early stage of readaptation. The X-ray spectral local microanalysis revealed a decrease in chlorine, potassium and sodium level's on the 2nd postdecompression day. On a prolonged hyperbaric exposure at the expense of phospholipid exchange between plasma erythrocytes and lipoproteins, the erythrocyte membrane changes which may cause disturbances in ionic permeability of the cells are expected to occur. Language: ru