Avances en el conocimiento de la fisiopatología del buceo en tortugas marinasel descubrimiento de la enfermedad descompresiva

Abstract

Decompression sickness (DCS), clinically diagnosed by reversal of symptoms after recompression treatment, has never been reported in breath hold divers, despite the predictable occurrence in their tissues when nitrogen stresses high enough to lead to bubble formation and lesions based on studies in terrestrial experimental models. In marine mammals, lesions compatible with DCS were described in post mortem studies, in cases where altered diving behavior is assumed because of exposure to high-powered underwater acoustic sources (e.g., active military sonar) and in cases of animals accidentally caught at depth in fisheries. In sea turtles, despite the abundant literature on diving physiology and work on the disruption caused to animals by accidental capture, this is the first report of gas embolism (GE) and DCS in this group. This Thesis is the most comprehensive compilation to date of the disease in any diving vertebrate: it provides evidence of its existence including associated symptoms and lesions, describes diagnostic and therapeutic options, and provides preliminary data on the impact of the disease in the clinical setting of a recovery center as well as under field conditions on board fishing vessels. The study compiles for the first-time information on this new clinic-pathological entity based on more than 300 affected loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) as well as isolated specimens of green turtle (Chelonia mydas), olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea) and leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea)...