Acid base

buffer system
 Buffering – the process that minimize
changes in the concentration of
hydrogen ions, thus maintaining acid-
base balance.
 There are three types of buffering:
 Chemical
 Ventilatory
 Renal
 Chemical buffering involves substances in body
fluids that accept hydrogen ions. The most
important chemical buffers are: bicarbonates,
phosphates and proteins (including
hemoglobin).
 Ventilatory buffering occurs via control
ventilation. This is especially important during
excerce. An increased concentration of free
hydrogen ions in extracellular fluid and plasma
directly stimulates the respiratory center in the
brain and causes an immediate increase in
alveolar ventilation. This leads to a decrease in
alveolar ventilation and in alveolar partial
pressure of carbon dioxide. So carbon dioxide is
removed from the blood.
 Renal buffering occurs in the kidneys and is
the only way to eliminate acids other than
carbonic acid. The kidneys excrete either
acidic or alkaline urine in response to
changes in the concentration of hydrogen
ions. The renal tubules secrete greater or
lesser amounts of hydrogen ions into the
urine and reabsorb greater or lesser
amounts of bicarbonate ions.
 It doesn’t seem that exercise training
enhances the body’s overall buffering
capacity (alkaline reserve)
 A buffering agent is a weak acid or base
used to maintain the acidity (pH) of
a solution near a chosen value after the
addition of another acid or base. That is, the
function of a buffering agent is to prevent a
rapid change in pH when acids or bases are
added to the solution. Buffering agents have
variable properties—some are more soluble
than others; some are acidic while others
are basic. As pH managers, they are
important in many chemical applications,
including agriculture, food processing and
medicine.
How does it work ?
 Buffering agents in humans, functioning
in acid base homeostasis, are extracellular
agents (e.g., bicarbonate, ammonia) as well
as intracellular agents
(including proteins andphosphate). A dilute
mixture of monosodium
phosphate and disodium phosphate can be
made to approach physiological pH and can
serve as an agent for phosphate loading or
colonic lavage.
 Acid–base homeostasis is the part
of human homeostasis concerning the
proper balance
between acids and bases, also called
body pH. The body is very sensitive to its
pH level, so strong mechanisms exist to
maintain it. Outside the acceptable
range of pH, proteins are denatured and
digested, enzymes lose their ability to
function, and death may occur.
Acid base buffering systems in
blood
 The activity of enzymes depends on the Ph of
the compartiment. Therefore, one of the
body’s homeostatic tasks is to keep the pH in
body fluids at a constant level. Three control
systems exist to prevent acidosis or alkalosis.
 All body fluids are supplied with acid-base
buffer systems that immediately combine with
any acid or base and prevent excessive
changes in hydrogen ion concentration.
A change in hydrogen ion conetration of
the blood influences the respiratory center;
as a result of an altered rate breathing the
CO2 removal from body fluids increases or
decreases, and the hydrogen ion
concentration starts to return to normal.
 The kidneys excrete an acid or alkaline into
urine, therby helping to nominalize
hydrogen ion concentration in body fluids.
 The most plentiful buffers in the body are
the proteins of the cells and plasma
because of their high concentrations.
Some amino acids have free acids
radicals that can associate to form a
base plus H+.
 It is also important that the amino acid
buffering systems have a pK (log of the
constant of dissociation of a buffer) close
to 7.4 which is the normal pH of blood.
 Buffering power is directly proportional to
the concentration of the buffer
substances.
 A rapid buffer system is made up of a mixture of
carbonic acid and sodium bicarbonate. When
a strong acid (lactic acid) flows into plasma, it
combines with sodium bicarbonate forming
H2CO3 and Na-lactate. An inflow of a strong
base will be combined with H2CO3, forming
bicarbonate and water. In blood, H2CO3 from
CO2 and H2O.
 Hemoglobin buffers the released H.
 Lactic acid released into the plasma dissociates
too H and positive lactate ions.
 H2CO3 decomposes to H2O and CO2 to be
eliminated by kidneys and lungs. In this way
nonmetabolic CO2 is formed.