Intracellular Acid-Base Regulation in Hypoxia

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Abstract
KNOWLEDGE of cell metabolism is necessary for a basic understanding of hypoxia associated with respiratory dysfunction, shock, and tissue ischemia. Because of the importance of pH in enzyme reactions and intermediary metabolism, knowledge of intracellular pH should provide useful information about the cell deprived of oxygen and reliant upon anerobic metabolism with lactic acid production. Cellular alterations observed in hypoxia should have important implications for the understanding of the cellular derangements seen in shock, characterized by decreased tissue perfusion and oxygenation. Studies of cellular changes in hemorrhagic and endotoxin shock have been presented elsewhere.1 The development, by Waddell and Butler,2 of a method for indirect measurement of intracellular pH using the weak organic acid 5,5-dimethyl, 2-4 oxazolidinedione (DMO) makes it possible to study intracellular pH in hypoxia, provided certain conditions can be satisfied. Some measure of a steady state must be shown to prevail for a sufficient time