Bicarbonate buffer systems

X 10 M), and an equivalent amount of OH (its usual concentration in plasma) would swamp the buffer system, causing a dangerous rise in the plasma pH. How, then, can this bicarbonate system function effectively The bicarbonate buffer system works well because the critical concentration of H2CO3 is maintained relatively constant through equilibrium with dissolved CO2 produced in the tissues and available as a gaseous CO2 reservoir in the lungs. ... 

Under the conditions of temperature and ionic strength prevailing in mammalian body fluids, the equilibrium for this reaction lies far to the left, such that about 500 CO2 molecules are present in solution for every molecule of H2CO3. Because dissolved CO2 and H2CO3 are in equilibrium, the proper expression for H2CO3 availability is [C02(d)] + [H2CO3], the so-called total carbonic acid pool, consisting primarily of C02(d). The overall equilibrium for the bicarbonate buffer system then is... 

This reaction is essential in maintaining a constant pH in blood by the bicarbonate buffer system. Carbonic anhydrase, which contains a single zinc atom in its structure, has a molecular weight of about 30,000. In this structure, zinc is surrounded tetrahedrally by three histidine molecules and one water molecule. The exact role of the catalyst is not known, but it is believed to involve hydrolysis that can be represented as... 

There are two ways of dealing with the bicarbonate buffer system. The first uses the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation and an effective pKa of 6.1. If there is more base (HCO 3) than acid (C02), the pH will always be bigger than the pKa. This is usually the case physiologically (pH = 7.4 pKa = 6.1) so that on a molar basis there is always more than 10-fold more HCO 3 than C02. 

Tissue culture, more frequently used as cell culture, enables animal and plant cells to be cultured in large numbers by techniques comparable to those used in microbiology but, because of the fragile nature of the cells, does require special cultural conditions. The culture media used must supply all the essential factors for growth, such as a wide range of amino acids, nucleotides, enzyme co-factors as well as indeterminate factors that can only be supplied in special products, e.g. foetal bovine serum. The environmental conditions must be carefully controlled, particularly pH, and this is frequently maintained by culturing in a bicarbonate buffer system and a carbon dioxide saturated atmosphere. 

The carbonic acid-bicarbonate buffer system has a of 6.1, yet is still a very effective buffer at pH 7-4 because it is an open buffer system, in which one component, CO2, can equilibrate between blood and air. 

Daily body activities are quite sensitive to large pH changes, and must be kept within a small range of H30 and OH concentrations. Human blood, for example, has a pH of approximately 7.4 maintained by a buffer system. If our blood pH drops below 7.35, it can cause symptoms such as drowsiness, disorientation and numbness. If the pH level drops below 6.8, a person can die. To maintain pH stability, there is a carbonic acid - bicarbonate buffer system in the blood. 

The pH of a bicarbonate buffer system depends on the concentration of H2C03 and I I(X)3, the proton donor and acceptor components. The concentration of H2C03 in turn depends on the concentration of dissolved C02, which in turn depends on the concentration of C02 in the gas phase, called the partial pressure of C02. Thus the pH of a bicarbonate buffer exposed to a gas phase is ultimately determined by the concentration of HC03 in the aqueous phase and the partial pressure of C02 in the gas phase (Box 2 4). 

In cells and tissues, phosphate and bicarbonate buffer systems maintain intracellular and extracellular fluids at their optimum (physiological) pH, which is usually close to pH 7. Enzymes generally work optimally at this pH. 

Blood, Lungs, and Buffer The Bicarbonate Buffer System... 

The ketone bodies are carboxylic acids, which ionize, releasing protons. In uncontrolled diabetes this acid production can overwhelm the capacity of the blood s bicarbonate buffering system and produce a lowering of blood pH called acidosis or, in combination with ketosis, ketoacidosis, a potentially life-threatening condition. 

It is not yet clear which estimates of the ratio between the levels of protein and of carbohydrate metabolism during hypoxia should be regarded as reliable. It seems likely that the increase in respiratory quotient in freshwater fish to values of 2.5-2.8, as found by Mohamed and Kutty (1983a, 1986), indicates a predominance of protein expenditure over that of carbohydrate. A hypoxic environment shifts the acid-base balance of the fish towards acidosis (Kotsar, 1976), thereby inducing the redistribution of electrolytes, alteration of ion exchange and the activity of Na+-K+-Mg2+-ATPases and alkaline phosphatases. It also leads to an increased level of C02 in the blood, which enhances the bicarbonate buffer system (Kotsar, 1976). In section 2.1, we... 

Bicarbonate buffer system, acidosis, and alkalosis Radioisotopes, nuclear medicine Cell crenation/rupture Ion transport... 

Nicholson et al. (1988, 1990) reported that pyrite oxidation kinetics in a bicarbonate buffered system at pH values between 7.5 and 6.5 initially increased, reached a maximum at about 400 hrs, and then decreased to a final, relatively constant, low value (Fig. 6.6). They found that pyrite particles, when oxidized under alkaline conditions, were coated with a ferric oxide coating. They concluded that oxide accumulation on the pyrite surface resulted in a significant reduction in oxidation rate over time. 

Again, buffers are essential in keeping pH within defined limits so that biochemical reactions can occur with maximum efficiency (i.e. maintaining so-called homeostasis). If, for example, the pH gets too low, the acidic environment can damage (or denature) and thus disable enzymes. An important example is the buffering of blood by the carbonic acid-bicarbonate buffer system illustrated below ... 

In order to be able to predict the retention behavior of peptides of different composition, of peptides of the same composition but different sequence (positional isomers), and of diastereoisomeric peptides, a knowledge of the incremental contribution of each amino acid to the overall contact area term is required not only for each well-defined stationary phase but also for each mobile-phase condition. Group retention coefficient summation approaches based on the assumption that selectivity differences can be ascribed predominantly to amino acid sequence differences, have been developed by Meek (46a, 52b) and Su et al. (45a). These treatments have subsequently been applied to a number of different elution systems (52c-52e). A comparative analysis of the different amino acid group contribution coefficients derived for phosphate, perchlorate, pyridine/acetate, trifluoroacetate, and bicarbonate buffer systems has been reported (52f). 

There are several factors however which are related to water acidity (low Ca" ", high content of heavy metals and aluminium) and other abiotic factors (temperature, transparency) which mask or enhance the pH effect. It now seems proven that aluminium is a real toxic agent in lakewater in acidified catchments, this metal being leached in high amounts from soils under acidification. Aluminium buffer system replaces the normal bicarbonate buffer system when lakes are acidified and A1 concentrations... 

Tryptic cleavage of Cytochrome c in borate buffer and separation of the peptides using the TFA eluent system resulted in the map shown in Figure la. Comparison of this result to digests performed in the more commonly used ammonium bicarbonate buffer system (7) demonstrated that trypsin activity was essentially equivalent in the two buffer systems, as there was little difference in the pattern of peptides obtained. The pattern only varied significantly with regard to related peptide pair T5 and T6, which differ by an extra Lys residue at the C-terminus of T6 that has Lys-Lys at the end. In the current study, one of these peptides is not present. This experiment allowed the use of the simpler... 

The bicarbonate buffer system of blood plasma works well because ... 

The pH of the plasma may be considered to be a function of two independent variables (1) the PCO2, which is regulated by the lungs and represents the acid component of the carbonic acid/bicarbonate buffer system, and (2) the concentration of titratable base (base excess or deficit, which is defined later), which is regulated by the kidneys. The plasma bicarbonate concentration is generally taken as a measure of the base excess or deficit in plasma and ECF, although it is recognized tliat conditions exist in which bicarbonate concentration may not accurately reflect the true base excess or deficit. 

The Henderson-Hasselbalch equation was developed independently by the Ameriean biological chemist L. J. Henderson and the Swedish physiologist K. A. Hasselbaleh, for relating the pH to the bicarbonate buffer system of the blood (see below). In its general form, the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation is a useful expression for buffer caleulations. It can be derived from the equilibrium constant expression for a dissociation reaction of the general weak acid (HA) in Equation (1.3) ... 

Carbonic acid represents the respiratory component of the buffer pair because its concentration is directly proportional to the PCO2, which is determined by ventilation. Bicarbonate represents the metabolic component because the kidney may alter its concentration by reabsorption, generating new bicarbonate, or altering elimination. The bicarbonate buffer system easily adapts to changes in acid-base status by alterations in ventilatory elimination of acid (PCO2) and/or renal elimination of base (HCO3). 

One of the principal effects of diarrhea is the excretion of large quantities of sodium bicarbonate. In which direction does the bicarbonate buffer system shift under this circumstance What is the resulting condition called ... 

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