SOME EFFECTS OF HYPERBARIC OXYGENATION ON BACTERIA AT INCREASED HYDROSTATIC PRESSURES

Abstract

The adverse effects of hyperbaric oxygenation on the reproduction and survival of bacteria are augmented by increased hydrostatic pressure. Different bacterial species differ considerably in their tolerance of increased hydrostatic pressure as well as for increased partial pressure of oxygen. Although their generation times may be lengthened and their reproduction rates retarded by increased pressures, most species of well-known bacteria are able to grow at hydrostatic pressures as high as 200–400 atm. In closed systems at 1 atm, certain aerobic bacteria grow well, or sometimes better, in nutrient media in which the partial pressure of oxygen is 5 to 10 times higher than that in the normal atmosphere (-Po₂ca. 0.2 atm, equivalent to a dissolved oxygen content of ca. 7 μg/ml), but such increased concentrations of oxygen (35–70 μg/ml) are injurious at substantially increased hydrostatic pressures, for example, 5–25 atm. Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus megaterium, Pseudomonas enalia, Pseudomonas perfectomarinus, and Serratia marinorubra were sterilized within a day or two by compression to 100 atm in media having a dissolved oxygen content of 35 μg/ml. All six species thrived at 100 atm in nutrient media having an initial oxygen content of 7 μg/ml and they grew well in media with an oxygen content of 35 μg/ml at 1 atm.