Lower decompression sickness risk in rats by intravenous injection of foreign protein.

We have identified a novel means of reducing the risk of decompression sickness (DCS) in rats. A substantial reduction in DCS, from 55% in untreated animals to 24% in animals injected intravenously with a hydrogenase of bacterial origin, was documented for animals breathing a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen. However, this reduction was clearly not a function of metabolic elimination of H2; injections of proteins lacking hydrogenase activity also elicited a lower DCS incidence, and animals breathing hyperbaric helium had the same protective advantage as animals breathing H2. The reduction in DCS risk was shown to be caused by intravenous injection of a foreign protein. The magnitude of the effect varied: two foreign proteins tested did not induce a statistically significant response. We speculated that the foreign protein elicited an immune reaction pre-dive, which diminished the subsequent response of the immune system in DCS. Identifying the underlying mechanism may be important to understanding the pathophysiology of this malady, and may ultimately lead to a therapy applied pre-decompression for reducing DCS risk in human diving.