Acid-base physiology | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 29/03/2019

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acid%E2%80%93base_homeostasis


00:04:39 1 Acid–base balance
00:16:52 2 Imbalance
00:17:57 3 See also
00:22:05 4 References



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SUMMARY
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Acid–base homeostasis is the homeostatic regulation of the pH of the body's extracellular fluid (ECF). The proper balance between the acids and bases (i.e. the pH) in the ECF is crucial for the normal physiology of the body,  and cellular metabolism. The pH of the intracellular fluid and the extracellular fluid need to be maintained at a constant level.Many extracellular proteins such as the plasma proteins and membrane proteins of the body's cells are very sensitive for their three dimensional structures to the extracellular pH. Stringent mechanisms therefore exist to maintain the pH within very narrow limits. Outside the acceptable range of pH, proteins are denatured (i.e. their 3-D structure is disrupted), causing enzymes and ion channels (among others) to malfunction.
In humans and many other animals, acid–base homeostasis is maintained by multiple mechanisms involved in three lines of defence:

The first line of defence are the various chemical buffers which minimize pH changes that would otherwise occur in their absence. They do not correct pH deviations, but only serve to reduce the extent of the change that would otherwise occur. These buffers include the bicarbonate buffer system, the phosphate buffer system, and the protein buffer system.The second line of defence of the pH of the ECF consists of controlling of the carbonic acid concentration in the ECF. This is achieved by changes in the rate and depth of breathing (i.e. by hyperventilation or hypoventilation), which blows off or retains carbon dioxide (and thus carbonic acid) in the blood plasma.The third line of defence is the renal system, which can add or remove bicarbonate ions to or from the ECF. The bicarbonate is derived from metabolic carbon dioxide which is enzymatically converted to carbonic acid in the renal tubular cells. The carbonic acid spontaneously dissociates into hydrogen ions and bicarbonate ions. When the pH in the ECF tends to fall (i.e. become more acidic) the hydrogen ions are excreted into the urine, while the bicarbonate ions are secreted into the blood plasma, causing the plasma pH to rise (correcting the initial fall). The converse happens if the pH in the ECF tends to rise: the bicarbonate ions are then excreted into the urine and the hydrogen ions into the blood plasma.Physiological corrective measures make up the second and third lines of defence. This is because they operate by making changes to the buffers, each of which consists of two components: a weak acid and its conjugate base. It is the ratio concentration of the weak acid to its conjugate base that determines the pH of the solution. Thus, by manipulating firstly the concentration of the weak acid, and secondly that of its conjugate base, the pH of the extracellular fluid (ECF) can be adjusted very accurately to the correct value. The bicarbonate buffer, consisting of a mixture of carbonic acid (H2CO3) and a bicarbonate (HCO−3) salt in solution, is the most abundant buffer in the extracellular fluid, and it is also the buffer whose acid to base ratio can be changed very easily and rapidly.An acid–base imbalance is known as acidaemia when the acidity is high, or alkalaemia when the acidity is low.