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I was just talking to a friend of mine who is a biologist (but not a diver).
We got to talking about narcosis and lipid solubility. He told me that his
understanding is that lipids in the cell membrane "absorb" the gas and bloat
to some degree which puts pressure on the cells and effects their function
(narcosis). By putting the cell under higher external pressure (a pressure
that effects the entire cell and not just the membrane), the membrane size
is reduced relative to the proportions of the rest of the cell. This would
help explain why narcosis reduces HPNS. He cited an experiment where frogs
are placed in an alcohol solution under low pressure and die but when placed
in the same solution under high pressure they survive (different frogs, that
is, not the ones that already died 8-).

This isn't his area of expertise so he cautioned me on that. They are more
like comments he remembers from courses he took. But I was hoping someone
on this list might be able to comment on this model so those of us non-bio
types might learn something.

And another question of a more chemical nature... why does it seem that the
higher atomic number elements have higher solubility than the lower? Is it
do to size? Chemisty? Just a coincidence?

Devon

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