Supplementation of antioxidants prevents oxidative stress during a deep saturation dive.

Conflicting views exist at the present regarding the influences of a deep saturation dive on liver function in divers. Therefore, we first reevaluated whether a deep saturation dive (400 msw) induces a hepatic disturbance. As the result, plasma activities of both transaminases (aspartate aminotransferase [AST] and alanine aminotransferase [ALT]) increased significantly, whereas cholinesterase (Ch-E) activity decreased markedly, being highly suggestive of liver dysfunction. Assuming that the liver dysfunction was attributable to oxidative stress, we next examined the effects of supplementation of antioxidants (600 mg of vitamin C, 150 mg of alpha-tocopherol, and 600 mg of tea catechins per day) on liver function in saturation divers. As was anticipated, the antioxidants taken appeared to prevent a hepatic disturbance, indicating that a deep saturation dive provokes liver dysfunction probably due to oxidative stress. Thus, we recommend that saturation divers should take supplements of antioxidants.