scholarly journals The 100th anniversary of pH (1909-2009). Negative logarithms for measuring hydrogen ions: are they essential in medicine? Part I

2013 ◽  
pp. 147-155
Author(s):  
Francesco Sgambato ◽  
Sergio Prozzo ◽  
Ester Sgambato ◽  
Rosa Sgambato ◽  
Luca Milano

Introduction: It has been 100 years since the concept of pH (1909-2009) was ‘‘invented’’ by the Danish chemist-mathematician Søren Peter Lauritz Sørensen (1868-1939) in the chemistry laboratories of the Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen. The anniversary provides an opportunity to examine the crucial importance in human life of acid-base balance. Materials and methods: The authors review the historical process that led to the creation of the pH scale, with citation of passages from the original work of Sørensen published 100 years ago. This is followed by a critical analysis of the debate regarding the use of logarithmstomeasure hydrogen ion concentrations based on data from scientific papers published over the past 50 years (1960-2010). Results and discussion: The authors conclude that the concept of acid-base balance can be approached and taught in a simpler, more exciting, and even pleasant fashion without using the infamous and abstruse Henderson-Hasselbalch equation. The whole rationale underlying the understanding and clinical application of this vital topic is clearly and unquestionably inherent simpler, more manageable formula introduced by Henderson (without logs), which is useful and quite adequate for use in medical education.

2012 ◽  
pp. 215-226
Author(s):  
Francesco Sgambato ◽  
Sergio Prozzo ◽  
Ester Sgambato ◽  
Rosa Sgambato ◽  
Luca Milano

Introduction: The year 2009 marked the centenary of the ‘‘invention’’ of the concept of pH by the Danish chemist-mathematician Søren Peder Lauritz Sørensen (1868-1939), who was working at the time in the chemistry laboratories of the Carlsberg Brewery in Copenhagen. The occasion provides an opportunity to re-examine a concept that is crucial for the understanding of human life–—namely, acid-base balance. This article provides an overview of acid-base pathophysiology and the historical events that led from the simple equation of Henderson to the much more complex one developed by Hasselbalch. Conclusions: The authors conclude that the issue of acid-base balance would be easier to understand, more exciting, and even more pleasant if it were taught without recourse to the infamously abstruse Henderson-Hasselbalch equation. Unquestionably, the whole rationale underlying the understanding and clinical application of this vital concept is already inherent in the simpler, more manageable formula of Henderson (without logs), which is both useful and sufficient for use in medical school curricula.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 794-794
Author(s):  
Lester F. Soyka

The endocrinology section of Duncan's Diseases of Metabolism comprises 736 pages, or about 44% of the total text. The division of this seventh edition of a classic text in the field is perhaps a logical expression of the splitting of endocrinology from metabolism as each field has grown tremendously in the past decade. The endocrinology portion is compact and easy to use because of this division, aided by the employment of thin, though substantial paper and small, but easily readable type. These combine to avoid the feeling of consulting a big-city telephone directory, which is so common with use of many of the standard textbooks of today. The illustrations are generally excellent and the 54-page index, which covers both sections of the book, is unusually thorough. As in all textbooks, many sections are outdated before they appear in print. Although the editors, Philip K. Bondy and Leon E. Rosenberg, propose to avoid this by means of a "last-minute" addendum, only two of the 13 chapters bear such, and one of these lists only three references, all dating to 1972. The other recent-developments section is longer and more helpful. The content is essentially that of general clinical endocrinology, each chapter using the standard approach of considering normal structure and function and then diseases in a gland arrangement, starting with the hypothalamus and traveling downward to the testis and ovary. A small chapter on acid-base balance seems out of place, whereas those on nonendocrine-secreting tumors and serotonin and the carcinoid syndrome are useful extensions of the scope of endocrinology.


1982 ◽  
Vol 242 (3) ◽  
pp. F238-F245 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. L. Hood ◽  
E. Danforth ◽  
E. S. Horton ◽  
R. L. Tannen

To determine whether acid-base balance regulates hydrogen ion production, seven obese volunteers were given NaHCO3 and NH4Cl (2 mmol.kg-1.day-1) during two separate 7-day fasts. On days 5-7 plasma bicarbonate was lower in the NH4Cl fasts (14.0 +/- 1.4 mM) than in the NaHCO3 fasts (18.3 +/- 1.1 mM), while urine pH and net acid excretion did not differ. Acid production (acid excretion minus intake) was greater by 204 mmol/day in the NaHCO3 fasts (274 +/- 16 mmol/day) than in the NH4Cl fasts (70 +/- 19 mmol/day). Ketoacid excretion, which reflected net ketoacid production, paralleled acid production, decreasing from 213 +/- 24 mmol/day in the NaHCO3 fasts to 67 +/- 18 mmol/day in the NH4Cl fasts. Thus, during starvation, alterations in hydrogen ion intake and the associated changes in acid-base balance modify the net production of endogenous acid by influencing the synthesis or utilization of ketoacids. Although the specific site of this metabolic regulation is undefined, these results indicate that systemic acid-base status can exert feedback control over hydrogen ion production.


1981 ◽  
Vol 240 (1) ◽  
pp. R29-R37 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. Mitchell ◽  
T. T. Gleeson ◽  
A. F. Bennett

Arterial PCO2, hydrogen ion ([H+]a), and lactate ([L]a) concentrations, rates of metabolic CO2 production (VCO2) and O2 consumption (VO2), and effective alveolar ventilation (Veff) were determined in the lizards Varanus exanthematicus and Iguana iguana at rest and during steady-state treadmill exercise at 35 degrees C. In Varanus, VCO2 increased ninefold and VO2 sixfold without detectable rise in [L]a at running speeds below 1.0 to 1.5 km x h-1. In this range, Veff increased 12-fold resulting in decreased levels of PaCO2 and [H+]a. At higher speeds [L]a rose. Increments of 5 mM [L]a were accompanied by hyperventilation, reducing PaCO2 and thus maintaining [H+]a near its resting level. When [L]a increased further, [H+]a increased. Sustainable running speeds (0.3-0.5 km x h-1 and below) were often associated with increased VO2, VCO2, and [L]a in Iguana. Sixfold increases in VCO2 and 9-mM increments in [L]a were accompanied by sufficient increase in Veff (9-fold) to maintain [H+]a at or below its control level. When [L]a increased further, [H+]a increased. These results indicate that both lizard species maintain blood acid-base homeostasis rather effectively via ventilatory adjustments at moderate exercise intensities.


1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ailsa Goulding ◽  
M. F. Broom

1. The effects of disodium ethane-1-hydroxy-1,1-diphosphonate (EHDP) and colchicine on acid-base balance were examined in intact and nephrectomized rats. 2. Both drugs increased extracellular hydrogen ion concentrations and depressed extracellular bicarbonate concentrations in nephrectomized rats compared with controls but did not alter these parameters in intact animals. 3. Intracellular hydrogen ion concentrations in the skeletal muscle of nephrectomized rats given EHDP were higher than those of control animals. 4. It is postulated that colchicine and EHDP inhibit skeletal buffering of non-volatile acids produced endogenously in nephrectomized rats.


1985 ◽  
Vol 249 (2) ◽  
pp. F220-F226 ◽  
Author(s):  
V. L. Hood

In a previous study of starvation-induced acute ketoacidosis, net ketoacid production was inhibited by acid and facilitated by base ingestion. To determine whether hydrogen ion modifies net ketoacid production during chronic ketoacidosis, six over-weight volunteers ingested NaHCO3, NaCl, or NH4Cl (2 mmol X kg-1 X day-1), each for 7 days, during weeks 6-8 of ketogenic dieting. During days 4-7 of each phase, blood bicarbonate was stable but lower in the NH4Cl (19.6 +/- 0.7 mM) than the NaHCO3 (23.7 +/- 0.7 mM) phases. Throughout these periods, acid intake differed by 216 mmol/day, whereas acid output differed by 129 mmol/day between the NaHCO3 and the NH4Cl phases. The major contribution to this difference in acid balance was a difference in net organic acid (ketoacid) production. Although blood ketones were stable, ketoacid excretion, reflecting net ketoacid production, was decreased by 59% with acid and increased by 66% with base compared with NaCl (control) ingestion. Thus, in this state of chronic ketoacidosis, challenges to acid-base balance were countered by a rapidly occurring, sustained, reversible, and quantitatively significant modification of net acid production which acted as an effective mechanism for acid-base regulation.


1980 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. L. Gaudry ◽  
C. Duffy ◽  
D. Joseph

Blood stored in citrate-phosphate-dextrose (CPD) solution for periods up to 20 days had a mean pH 6.71. The mean metabolic hydrogen ion excess was 32 mmol/litre and the mean respiratory hydrogen ion excess was 80 mmol/litre. These results for CPD blood are compared with those obtained on acid-citrate-dextrose blood. A prediction is made that clinically, only small variations in metabolic and respiratory acid-base balance would be produced directly due to the acid and base loads in transfused blood.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
María M. Adeva-Andany ◽  
Natalia Carneiro-Freire ◽  
Cristóbal Donapetry-García ◽  
Eva Rañal-Muíño ◽  
Yosua López-Pereiro

Human plasma is an aqueous solution that has to abide by chemical rules such as the principle of electrical neutrality and the constancy of the ionic product for water. These rules define the acid-base balance in the human body. According to the electroneutrality principle, plasma has to be electrically neutral and the sum of its cations equals the sum of its anions. In addition, the ionic product for water has to be constant. Therefore, the plasma concentration of hydrogen ions depends on the plasma ionic composition. Variations in the concentration of plasma ions that alter the relative proportion of anions and cations predictably lead to a change in the plasma concentration of hydrogen ions by driving adaptive adjustments in water ionization that allow plasma electroneutrality while maintaining constant the ionic product for water. The accumulation of plasma anions out of proportion of cations induces an electrical imbalance compensated by a fall of hydroxide ions that brings about a rise in hydrogen ions (acidosis). By contrast, the deficiency of chloride relative to sodium generates plasma alkalosis by increasing hydroxide ions. The adjustment of plasma bicarbonate concentration to these changes is an important compensatory mechanism that protects plasma pH from severe deviations.


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