pH in physiological salt solutions: direct measurements

Calculations of pH in modified Krebs solutions by inserting PCO2 and total-CO2 in the Henderson-Hasselbalch (H.-H.) equation are obvious as the equation originally served for this purpose. An exact calculation of the relation between pH and PCO2 is complicated as the concentration of bicarbonate, the dissociation constant and the solubility of CO2 change. Furthermore, the dissociation constant in the H.-H. equation is constant only if activities are used in the equation instead of stoichiometric concentrations. We therefore investigated the influence of different carbon dioxide tensions and bicarbonate concentrations on directly measured pH of organ baths aerated with mass-spectrometric analyzed O2-CO2 gases. For reference precision buffers were used. The measured pH values differed distinctly from calculated pH values in the acidic and alkaline parts of the pH interval investigated (6.57-8.15). Measurements of actual pH with proper calibration standards therefore seem mandatory.