Israel Naval Medical Institute, IDF Medical Corps, Haifa, Israel.
Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2011 Jun 30;177(1):19-23. doi: 10.1016/j.resp.2011.02.013. Epub 2011 Mar 3.
It is a long-standing hypothesis that the bubbles which evolve as a result of decompression have their origin in stable gas micronuclei lodged in hydrophobic crevices, micelles of surface-active molecules, or tribonucleation. Recent findings supported by atomic force microscopy have indicated that tiny, flat nanobubbles form spontaneously on smooth, hydrophobic surfaces submerged in water. We propose that these nanobubbles may be the gas micronuclei responsible for the bubbles that evolve to cause decompression sickness. To support our hypothesis, we used hydrophilic and monolayer-covered hydrophobic smooth silicon wafers. The experiment was conducted in three main stages. Double distilled water was degassed at the low pressure of 5.60 kPa; hydrophobic and hydrophilic silicon wafers were placed in a bowl of degassed water and left overnight at normobaric pressure. The bowl was then placed in the hyperbaric chamber for 15 h at a pressure of 1013 kPa (=90 m sea water). After decompression, bubbles were observed and photographed. The results showed that bubbles only evolved on the hydrophobic surfaces following decompression. There are numerous hydrophobic surfaces within the living body (e.g., in the large blood vessels), which may thus be the sites where nanobubbles that serve as gas micronuclei for bubble evolution following decompression are formed.
这是一个长期存在的假设，即由于减压而演变的气泡起源于稳定的气体微核，这些微核位于疏水性裂缝、表面活性剂分子的胶束或三相核化中。原子力显微镜的最新发现表明，微小的、扁平的纳米气泡会在浸入水中的光滑疏水性表面上自发形成。我们提出，这些纳米气泡可能是导致减压病的气泡演变的气体微核。为了支持我们的假设，我们使用了亲水和单层覆盖的疏水性光滑硅片。实验分为三个主要阶段进行。双蒸水在 5.60 kPa 的低压下除气；将亲水和疏水性硅片放在一碗除气水中，在常压下放置过夜。然后将碗放入高压室中，在 1013 kPa（=90 m 海水）的压力下保持 15 小时。减压后，观察并拍摄气泡。结果表明，只有在疏水性表面减压后才会产生气泡。在体内有许多疏水性表面（例如，在大血管中），因此这些疏水性表面可能是形成纳米气泡的部位，纳米气泡是减压后气泡演变的气体微核。
