Levodopa and Aspirin Pretreatment Beneficial in Experimental Decompression Sickness

Abstract

Two hundred and two adult, female Sprague–Dawley rats (215 ± 11 g) were compressed to 100 psi (95% N₂ and 5% O₂) for 30 min and decompressed in 3 min. Forty percent of the control animals developed severe clinical signs of decompression sickness (DS) while 31% of the control animals died. Pretreatment with levodopa (4 days at 10 mg/kg ip) or aspirin (30 days at 55 mg/kg in drinking water) decreased the occurrence of DS to 28 or 22%, respectively, while mortality was decreased to 16 or 12%. When levodopa and aspirin were given as a combination pretreatment the incidence of DS was decreased to 11% and mortality to 5.6% only. The increased beneficial effect of combination pretreatment (levodopa and aspirin) suggests two different protective mechanisms of the used drugs.