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Changes in the higher fatty acid composition of blood plasma and erythrocyte membranes during long exposure of a human to hyperbaric gas medium

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Abstract

The gas chromatographic method was used to study the changes in the fatty acid composition of the sum of the blood serum and erythrocyte membrane lipids in healthy male volunteers under the conditions of simulation in the ground-based hyperbaric set of long dives at depths of up to 350 m in the oxygen-helium and oxygen-neon media and in the readaptation period. At a depth of 100 m, a decrease in the serum content of the sum of saturated acids (palmitic (16:0)n and stearic (18:0) acids) and a 1.5-fold increase in the linoleic acid content compared to the background was found. A comparison of the individual changes in the blood serum and erythrocyte membrane fatty acids, as well as the unsaturation index (UI, the ratio of the sum of the unsaturated fatty acid concentrations multiplied by the number of double bonds in the molecule to the sum of the saturated fatty acid concentrations) and the R index (the erythrocyte to the serum fatty acid content ratio), showed that, under the experimental conditions and in the period of readaptation, the main changes occurred in the erythrocyte membranes, in which the unsaturated fatty acid content increased, and the linoleic and, especially, the arachidonic acid contents changed in different directions, depending on the depth of the dive. In the readaptation period, the linoleic and arachidonic acid contents decreased twofold on the first day and exceeded even the background level on the fourth day. The data obtained give evidence for the adaptive role of the erythrocyte membrane lipids upon exposure of humans to a hyperbaric medium with a changed gas composition.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 123007, Russia

    V. P. Naidina, Yu. V. Pepelyaev & L. B. Buravkova

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  1. V. P. Naidina
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  2. Yu. V. Pepelyaev
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  3. L. B. Buravkova
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Original Russian Text © V.P. Naidina, Yu.V. Pepelyaev, L.B. Buravkova, 2009, published in Fiziologiya Cheloveka, 2009, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 57–63.

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Naidina, V.P., Pepelyaev, Y.V. & Buravkova, L.B. Changes in the higher fatty acid composition of blood plasma and erythrocyte membranes during long exposure of a human to hyperbaric gas medium. Hum Physiol 35, 442–448 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119709040082

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