Schematic of rodent decompression experiment with bubble assessment.

(a) A rodent is placed in a hyperbaric chamber (awake or anesthetized) and pressurized following a pre-determined pressure-time profile to simulate diving exposure (depicted in the bottom plot). (b) After decompression, the rodent is removed from chamber, anesthetized or restrained, and positioned for decompression bubble imaging. In this example, echocardiography is used to assess the presence of in vivo venous gas emboli (VGE) that may be seen in the venous heart chambers. The review will include bubble detection using other imaging modalities and encompass before, during and after diving timepoints.