Decompression (diving) but in later experiments signs of what was later to become known as decompression sickness were observed. Later, when technological advances allowed the use of pressurization of mines and caissons to exclude water ingress, miners were observed to present symptoms of what would become known as caisson disease, compressed air illness, the bends, and decompression sickness. Once it was recognized that the symptoms were caused by gas bubbles, and that re-compression could relieve the symptoms, Paul Bert showed in 1878 that decompression sickness is caused by nitrogen bubbles released from tissues and blood during or after decompression, and showed the
Decompression sickness stabilised platelet aggregates and possibly toxic effects due to the association of lipids with the air bubbles. Protein molecules may be denatured by reorientation of the secondary and tertiary structure when non-polar groups protrude into the bubble gas and hydrophilic groups remain in the surrounding blood, which may generate a cascade of pathophysiological events with consequent production of clinical signs of decompression sickness. The physiological effects of a reduction in environmental pressure depend on the rate of bubble growth, the site, and surface activity. A sudden release of sufficient pressure in saturated tissue results in a complete disruption of cellular