Abstract
Purpose
Adaptations during voluntary breath-hold diving have been increasingly investigated since these athletes are exposed to critical hypoxia during the ascent. However, only a limited amount of literature explored the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. This is the first study to measure arterial blood gases immediately before the end of a breath-hold in real conditions.
Methods
Six well-trained breath-hold divers were enrolled for the experiment held at the “Y-40 THE DEEP JOY” pool (Montegrotto Terme, Padova, Italy). Before the experiment, an arterial cannula was inserted in the radial artery of the non-dominant limb. All divers performed: a breath-hold while moving at the surface using a sea-bob; a sled-assisted breath-hold dive to 42 m; and a breath-hold dive to 42 m with fins. Arterial blood samples were obtained in four conditions: one at rest before submersion and one at the end of each breath-hold.
Results
No diving-related complications were observed. The arterial partial pressure of oxygen (96.2 ± 7.0 mmHg at rest, mean ± SD) decreased, particularly after the sled-assisted dive (39.8 ± 8.7 mmHg), and especially after the dive with fins (31.6 ± 17.0 mmHg). The arterial partial pressure of CO2 varied somewhat but after each study was close to normal (38.2 ± 3.0 mmHg at rest; 31.4 ± 3.7 mmHg after the sled-assisted dive; 36.1 ± 5.3 after the dive with fins).
Conclusion
We confirmed that the arterial partial pressure of oxygen reaches hazardously low values at the end of breath-hold, especially after the dive performed with voluntary effort. Critical hypoxia can occur in breath-hold divers even without symptoms.
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Abbreviations
- BE-ecf:
-
Base excess of extracellular fluid
- HCO3− :
-
Bicarbonate
- PaCO2 :
-
Arterial partial pressures of carbon dioxide
- PaO2 :
-
Arterial partial pressures of oxygen
- POST DP:
-
Arterial blood sampling after a breath-hold sled-assisted dive
- POST DP-EXE:
-
Arterial blood sampling after a breath-hold dive with fins
- POST SUR:
-
Arterial blood sampling after breath-holding while moving at the surface
- PRE:
-
Arterial blood sampling out of the water at rest
- SaO2%:
-
Arterial hemoglobin-oxygen saturation
- TCO2 :
-
Total carbon dioxide
- TLC:
-
Total lung capacity
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GB, EC, RM, and MP conceived and designed the experiments. GB, AR, LM, GG, MP, and JL performed the experiments. MP, RM, and AR analyzed the data. GB contributed the materials. GB, AR, MP, EC, and RM wrote the paper. All authors read and approved the manuscript.
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Communicated by Guido Ferretti.
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Bosco, G., Paganini, M., Rizzato, A. et al. Arterial blood gases in divers at surface after prolonged breath-hold. Eur J Appl Physiol 120, 505–512 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04296-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-019-04296-2