title: A rat model of chronic moderate alcohol consumption and risk of decompression sickness.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study aimed to establish if chronic, moderate, pre-dive alcohol consumption had any affect upon susceptibility to decompression sickness (DCS) in rats.
  
  
  METHODS
  A treatment group of 15 rats were given water containing 12 mL ·L ⁻¹ of ethanol for four weeks. Controls (n = 15) were given water. Both groups were compressed with air to 1,000 kPa, followed by staged decompression. An additional 30 control rats from a similar previous experiment were added, raising the control-treatment ratio to 3:1.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Rats in the treatment group consumed the equivalent of an 80 kg man drinking 2 L of 5 % alcohol by volume beer per day, which is three times the recommended daily limit for men. Overall, comparing the treatment group with the combined control groups neither weight (P = 0.23) nor alcohol consumption (P = 0.69) were associated with DCS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We observed that chronic, moderate alcohol consumption prior to compression was neither prophylactic nor deleterious for DCS in young, male rats.
authors.affiliation: 1 Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Laboratoire Optimisation des Régulations Physiologiques (ORPhy), UFR Sciences et Techniques, Brest, France, School of Sports Science, Exercise and Health, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia. Director, Injury Monitoring and Prevention, Divers Alert Network, 6 West Colony Place, Durham NC 27705, USA, E-mail: pbuzzacott@dan.org.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Buzzacott
authors.affiliation: Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Laboratoire Optimisation des Régulations Physiologiques (ORPhy), UFR Sciences et Techniques, Brest, France.
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mazur
authors.affiliation: Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Laboratoire Optimisation des Régulations Physiologiques (ORPhy), UFR Sciences et Techniques, Brest, France.
authors.forename: Qiong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Laboratoire Optimisation des Régulations Physiologiques (ORPhy), UFR Sciences et Techniques, Brest, France.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lambrechts
authors.affiliation: Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Laboratoire Optimisation des Régulations Physiologiques (ORPhy), UFR Sciences et Techniques, Brest, France.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Theron
authors.affiliation: Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Laboratoire Optimisation des Régulations Physiologiques (ORPhy), UFR Sciences et Techniques, Brest, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Guerrero
mesh_terms: D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000401:mortality; D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003664:Decompression / Q000379:methods; D003665:Decompression Sickness / Q000209:etiology* / Q000401:mortality / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D004242:Diving; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012737:Sex Factors; D012890:Sleep; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol
keywords: Animal model; decompression illness; hyperbaric research; regression analysis; risk factors