Chronic Respiratory Alkalosis

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Abstract
In normal subjects, chronic hyperventilation lowers plasma bicarbonate concentration, primarily by inhibiting the urinary excretion of net acid. The quantitative relation between reduced arterial carbon dioxide tension (PaCO2) and the plasma bicarbonate concentration in the chronic steady state has not been studied in humans, however, and the laboratory criteria for the diagnosis of chronic respiratory alkalosis therefore remain undefined. We wished to provide such reference data for clinical use. Moreover, because chronic hyperventilation paradoxically lowers blood pH still further in dogs with metabolic acidosis, we desired to study the effect of chronic hypocapnia on the plasma bicarbonate concentration (and blood pH) in normal human subjects in whom acidosis had been induced with ammonium chloride.