Effects of Gas Exchange on Acid‐Base Balance

Abstract This paper describes the interactions between ventilation and acid‐base balance under a variety of conditions including rest, exercise, altitude, pregnancy, and various muscle, respiratory, cardiac, and renal pathologies. We introduce the physicochemical approach to assessing acid‐base status and demonstrate how this approach can be used to quantify the origins of acid‐base disorders using examples from the literature. The relationships between chemoreceptor and metaboreceptor control of ventilation and acid‐base balance summarized here for adults, youth, and in various pathological conditions. There is a dynamic interplay between disturbances in acid‐base balance, that is, exercise, that affect ventilation as well as imposed or pathological disturbances of ventilation that affect acid‐base balance. Interactions between ventilation and acid‐base balance are highlighted for moderate‐ to high‐intensity exercise, altitude, induced acidosis and alkalosis, pregnancy, obesity, and some pathological conditions. In many situations, complete acid‐base data are lacking, indicating a need for further research aimed at elucidating mechanistic bases for relationships between alterations in acid‐base state and the ventilatory responses. © 2012 American Physiological Society. Compr Physiol 2:2203‐2254, 2012.

Effects of Gas Exchange on Acid‐Base Balance Journal Articles