Fetal development: effects of decompression sickness and treatment.

Pregnant hamsters were exposed to 7.1 ATA (200 fsw) of compressed air breathing for 40 min. Comparisons were made between three groups of pregnant hamsters: (a) those that developed decompression sickness (DCS); (b) those that did not; and (c) a control (non-divided) group. As reported previously, maternal DCS if untreated resulted in frequent and severe teratogenic effects. Furthermore, fetuses from those females who apparently did not develop DCS were significantly smaller at term than fetuses from the control animals. However, fetuses from females that were treated for DCS did not differ from controls. This suggests that 40-min, 200-fsw dives per se are detrimental to fetal development in hamsters.