THE EFFECT OF CHANGES IN HYDROGEN ION
CONCENTRATION ON THE PULMONARY
CIRCULATION
Edward H. Bergofsky, … , David E. Lehr, Alfred P. Fishman
J Clin Invest.
1962;
41(7)
:1492-1502.
https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI104604
.
Research Article
Find the latest version:
Journal of Clinical Investigation Vol. 41, No. 7, 1962
THE EFFECT OF CHANGES IN HYDROGEN ION CONCENTRATION
ON
THE
PULMONARY CIRCULATION
*
By EDWARD H. BERGOFSKY,t DAVID E.
LEHR$
AND ALFRED P. FISHMAN(From theDepartment of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Cardiorespiratory Laboratory of the Presbyterian Hospital, New York, N. Y.)
(Submitted for
publication January 23, 1962; accepted March 22,
1962)
Although acidosis has long been known to cause
vasodilation
in certain systemic vascular beds
(1-3), its effect
on
the
pulmonary vessels remains
unsettled.
This
uncertainty stems from the
in-consistent effects of an acute change in blood pH
on
the pulmonary circulation of the isolated lung
(4-8) and of the lung perfused
in situ (9), and
the
lack of observations on intact animals and
man.
Liljestrand,
on
the basis of experiments
involv-ing
the exposure of the isolated lung to severe
hypoxia,
recently proposed that the release of
lactic acid from the cells of the lung is responsible
for
the increase in pulmonary arterial pressure
during
acute
hypoxia
(10).
However, it is not
clear
to what extent this
hypothesis,
based on the
behavior of an artificial preparation
during
drastic
experimental
conditions,
applies to the behavior
of the normal pulmonary circulation of either the
intact animal or man
during
less severe hypoxia.
The
present
study
was
designed to assess
the
role of acidosis in
the
regulation
of
the
pulmonary
circulation
ofintact
animals and man.
We
found
that acidosis
can
increase pulmonary vascular
re-sistance.
Experiments
were
then
undertaken:
1)
to
distinguish between the effects
of
the hydrogen
ion and
the effects of
the
associated
anions
on
the
pulmonary circulation,
and
2)
to
determine
the
role
of
acidosis
in
the pulmonary arterial
pressor
responses to
acutehypoxia
and to acute
hyper-capnia.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Acute acidosis. In order to avoid the increase in
min-ute ventilation which acidosis evokes in unanesthetized
*Supported in part by Grant H-2299
(C3)
from theNational Heart Institute, with additional support from the American Heart Association and the New York Heart Association. Presented in part at the Conference
on In-Vitro and In-Vivo Effects of Amine Buffers, The
New York Academy of Sciences, December 12, 1960.
tSenior Fellow of the New York Heart Association.
tFellow of the American Trudeau
Society.
animals and man, and which prevents large changes in the blood pH, the effects of acidosis were studied during controlled ventilation in anesthetized dogs. Eleven dogs were anesthetized with intravenous pentobarbital
(Nem-butal), 30 mg per kg. The minute ventilation was
con-trolled by means of an automatic, intermittent, positive
pressure breathing apparatus (Bird), connected to the trachea of the dog bymeansof acuffed endotracheal tube. The breathing apparatus was incorporated into an open circuit in such a way that expired air could be collected in a gasometer. In each doga no. 6 cardiac catheterwas
introduced into the pulmonary artery under fluoroscopic control by way of ajugular vein. An indwelling needle
was placed inonefemoral artery; ano. 6 cardiac catheter was threaded retrogradely, through the other femoral artery, into the left ventricle.
The experiments were of three types: a comparison of the effects of lactic acid with those of hydrochloric acid (four dogs) ; a comparison of the effects of lactic acid with those of acute hypercarpnia (three dogs); and the effects of lactic acid duringacute hypoxia (four dogs).
Each type of experiment consisted of four periods; each period lasted for 15 to 20 minutes. The first type of experiment, involving the comparison of the effects of lactic with hydrochloric acid, consisted of the following periods: 1) control, i.e., ambient air breathing during the intravenous infusion of normal saline at a rate of 4 ml per minute; 2) the infusion of 0.3 M lactic acid at the
same rate; 3) repeat control, 30 minutes after the second period, when the arterial blood pH had returned toward
normal; and 4) the infusion of 0.3 M hydrochloric acid
at the same rate. The second type of experiment, which compared the effects of lactic acid andacute hypercapnia,
was the same as the first, except for the fourth period, when an inspired mixture containing 5 per cent CO. in airwassubstituted for ambient air, and normal saline was infused at the standard rate of4 mlper minute. For the third typeof experiment, which tested the effects ofacute acidosis during acute hypoxia, the first two periods were the same as the first two periods of the previous experi-ments; during the third period, an inspired mixture of 12 per cent 0, in N. was substituted for ambient air; during the fourth period,an infusion of0.3 M lactic acid,
attherateof4ml permin,was substituted for the normal saline as the dog continued to breathe the hypoxic in-spired mixture.
Blood pressures were recorded, at different paper speeds, either continuously orat 1-minute intervals. For the sake ofprecise measurement, records of diastolic blood
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1494 EDWARD H. BERGOFSKY, DAVID E. LEHR AND ALFRED P. FISHMAN
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EFFECT OF PH ON THE PULMONARY CIRCULATION
pressures in the left ventricle were taken, in rapid
suc-cession, at several different gains. Expired gas for the calculation of the oxygen uptake and the respiratory
ex-change ratio was collected in a 13-L spirometer during the final 2 minutes of each period; blood samples were
drawn simultaneously from the brachial and pulmonary arteries during the middle minute of gas collection for the determination by the Fickprinciple of the cardiac output.
Acute alkalosis. The effects of acute alkalosis in
modifying the pulmonary arterial pressor response to
acute hypoxia were studied in unanesthetized normal
human subjects. The subjects were six men and three
women, ranging in age from 17to 47 years. All studies were performed in the morning after an overnight fast.
An indwellingneedle was inserted into the brachial artery and a no. 8 cardiac catheter was passed from the
ante-brachial vein into the pulmonary artery (11). An open-circuit breathing system was used to deliver either
am-bient air or the hypoxic gas and to collect expired air
in a 120-L gasometer. Each study consisted of four
periods: 1) control, ambient air breathing; 2) acute
hypoxia, during which an inspired mixture of 12 per
cent02 in N. was substituted for ambient air; 3) ambient
air breathing plus alkali; and 4) acute hypoxia plus
alkali. Throughout each study an infusion of fluid was continued at the rate of 6 ml per minute; in five subjects
normal saline was infused until 25 minutes before the start ofperiod 3 when a solution of 0.3 M Tris was sub-stituted for the saline; in four other subjects a solution
of 0.3 M sodium bicarbonate was substituted for the
saline. During periods 2 and 4 the hypoxic inspired gas mixture was administered for the last 15 to 20 minutes ofthe period. As in the animal experiments, the appro-priate blood and gas samples were collected during the final 2 minutes of each period.
Analytic techniques and calculations. The same ana-lytic techniques were used in both sets of experiments. Blood pressures were recorded from the intracardiac
cath-etersby strain gauges andanoscilloscope recorder (Elec-tronics for Medicine). Cardiac output was measured by the Fick principle during a steady state of respiration and circulation (12). The 02 and CO2 contents of expired
air were measured by the micro-Scholander technique
(13), and the 0,and CO2contents of mixed venous and arterial blood were analyzed by the method of Van Slyke
and Neill (14). The blood pH was measured at 370 C
(McInnes-Belcher glass electrode). The concentration of lactic acid in arterial blood was determined by the method of Barker and Summerson (15).
The arterial CO2 tension was calculated from the pH and the CO2 content of serum, by use of the line charts
of Van Slyke and Sendroy (16). The pulmonary
vas-cular resistance was calculated as the ratio of mean pulmonary arterial pressure minus mean left ventricular diastolic pressure to the cardiac output.
For the 22 experimental periods involving acidosis, the
constants in the best linear equations relating pulmonary vascular resistance to arterial blood pH, on the one
hand.
and to arterial bloodPco2,
on the other, were calculated by the method of least squares; their significance wasestimated by the Fisher t test. Similar statistical anal-yses were performed for the relationship between pulmo-nary vascular resistance and arterial blood pH produced by the infusion of lactic acid, the infusion of hydrochloric acid, and the breathing of CO2, respectively.
RESULTS
Acute
acidosis
Lactic
acid versus
hydrochloric
acid.
The
ef-fects
of
these
acids
onthe
pulmonary
circulation
of four
dogs are
compared
in
Table I.
It may be
seen
that the infusion
of
HCl effected
aslightly
greater
decrement in arterial
pH
than did the
in-fusion of
lactic acid
(- 0.27
ascompared
with
-
0.16).
The
concentration of lactic
acid in the
arterial blood increased five- to
sixfold
during
the
lactic acid
infusion
but
remained
atcontrol
levels
during the infusion
of
hydrochloric acid.
Despite
these dissimilarities
in
the
concentrations
of
anions
(i.e., lactate
versus
chloride) in the pulmonary
ar-terial
pressure
increased in each animal
during
acidosis.
The
average
increases
were
3
mmHg
during the lactic acid infusion and 5
mmHg
dur-ing
the HCl
infusion.
The
most
striking changes
in
pulmonary arterial
pressure
occurred
in
dog 4,
which also had
the
most
marked
changes in
ar-terial
pH. These consistent
changes
in
pulmonary
arterial
pressure
occurred
in
the
face of
unchanged
left ventricular pressure in
all
dogs
and of
un-changed cardiac
output
in three of the four
dogs;
in
the fourth animal
(dog
2),
the cardiac
output
increased
by equal
amountsduring the
twoperiods
of
acidosis.
The
changes
in calculated
pulmonary vascular
resistance that occurred during
the
infusion of
the
acids
is illustrated
for
each animal in
the
upper
half
of
Figure 1.
It
canbe
seenin
each animal that
acidosis
was
associated with
anincrease in
calcu-lated resistance.
Moreover, the
slopes of the lines
relating
arterial
pH to
resistance
weresimilar for
the
twoacids.
Lactic acid
versus
5
per cent
CO2. The effects
of
infusing
lactic
acid
and of
controlled
ventila-tion with 5
per
centCO2
in
air
arecompared
in
the
middle portion
of Table
I.
The
twoacids had
different effects on
the
composition
of arterial
blood.
1)
The
degree
of acidosis
produced by
the
infusion
of
lactic acid exceeded that
produced
by
CO2 breathing; thus, the
average
decrement
in
EDWARD H. BERGOFSKY, DAVID E. LEHR AND ALFRED P. FISHMAN
acid and 0.19 during CO2 breathing.
2) During
CO2 breathing the CO2
contentof arterial
serumincreased,
onthe
average,by
4 ml
per100
ml
and
the
Pco2
increased
by 21
mmHg; in
contrast,the
arterial CO2
contentfell by approximately 11 ml
per
100 ml
during
the lactic acid infusion and the
Pco2 increased by only
4
mmHg.
3) The
con-centration of
lactate
in the arterial blood
increased
markedly during the infusion of lactic acid but
remained
unchanged
during CO2 breathing.
De-spite these
differences,
each
dog responded
toboth
the
infusion
of lactic acid and
tothe
breathing
of
LACTIC
ACI
0.44
RMv
mmHg m I/sec
0.3
0.2
0.1
the
CO2
mixture
with
arise in
pulmonary
arterial
pressure.
The increases
in
pulmonary
arterial
pressurewerenot
associated with
changes
in either
the cardiac
output
orleft
ventricular
pressure.Fi-nally,
the lower half of
Figure
1 shows
that,
de-spite
the
considerable differences between
the
con-centration of the
anions
in the arterial
blood,
simi-lar
decrements
in arterial
pH
wereassociated
with
equivalent
increments
in
meanpulmonary
vascu-lar
resistance.
Lactic acid
during
acutehypoxia.
The effects
of
infusing
lactic
acid
during
acutehypoxia
are0.4
Rpv
mm Hg
mI/sec
0.3
-0.2
-0.1
LACTIC ACID
5 0/0
CO2
WA/1
I
i I I I I I7.40 7.20 7.00 7.40 7.20 7.00
pH
pH
FIG. 1. THE EFFECTS OF A CHANGE IN PH ON MEAN PULMONARY VASCULAR
RESISTANCE (RPv) IN THE DOG. Upper half: The effects in the same animals of
infusions of 0.3 M lactic acidand 0.3 M hydrochloric acid. Lower half: The effects
in another group of animals of infusing 0.3 M lactic acid and of breathing 5 per
cent CO2.
Each symbol represents a single animal: the open symbols represent control values
before the acidosis; the solid symbols represent the corresponding values during
acidosis. Equal decrements in pH evoke similar increments in pulmonary vascular resistance, regardless ofthe acidifyingagent.
LACTIC ACID
7.00 7.20
LACTIC ACID
+
HYPOXIA
7.40
pH
7.20 7.00
pH
FIG. 2. THE EFFECTS OF 0.3 M LACTIC ACID (LEFT) AND OF HYPOXIA AND 0.3 M LACTIC ACID (RIGHT) ON THE PULMONARY VASCULAR RESISTANCE OF FOUR DOGS. As in Figure 1, each symbol represents an individual animal.
For equivalent decreases in pH, an infusion of lactic acid produces the same increase in pulmonary vascular
re-sistance during ambient air breathing as during the breathing of 12 per cent 02 in N2.
itemized for four dogs in the bottom portion of
Table
I.
In
these animals the infusion of lactic
acid
during ambient air breathing
wasassociated
with
an averageincrease in pulmonary arterial
pressure
of 4
mmHg.
Acute hypoxia elicited
anapproximately equal increase; the infusion of
lac-tic
acid during
acutehypoxia evoked
afurther
in-crease of 3 mmHg.
The
change
inpulmonary
vascular resistance that accompanies lactic acidemia
during
ambientbreathing
iscompared
with thechange
evokedby lactic acidemia during
acutehy-poxia
inFigure
2.It
maybe
seenthat
ineach
dog, lactic acidemia without hypoxia (left panel)
elicited an
increase in resistance corresponding
tothat
previously
observed in the first sevendogs
ofTable
I.The substitution
ofthe hypoxic inspired
mixture for ambient air (right panel) elicited
afurther
increase
inresistance.
Theincrement
inresistance
perunit
decrement in arterial pH
wassimilar, however, during
ambient airbreathing
andduring
acutehypoxia.
Statistical analysis of data. The increase in
pul-monaryvascular resistance during the
22periods
ofacidosis in the 11 dogs is statistically significant
(SE
=0.019;
p <0.01). Moreover,
astatistically
significant relationship exists between the
incre-ments
in pulmonary vascular resistance
(R,)
and
the decrements in arterial blood pH
(ARP
=-0.047
+0.686- ApH;
p <0.01).
With
respect tothe individual acidifying
agents,the
relationship
between the pulmonary
vascularresistance
andthe
decreases in arterial blood pH is statistically
sig-nificant for lactic acid experiments
(Rep
=0.1095
+
0.201 -ApH;
p <0.01) and probably significant
for the CO2 experiments
(ARp
= -0.006
+0.581
-ApH;
p <0.05)
and for the HCl
experiments
(ARp
=-0.074
+0.796-ApH;
p<0.05).
A
statistically significant increase
inarterial
blood
Pco2
occurred
during
the22 periods
ofaci-dosis
(SE
=1.74;
p<0.01).
However,
incon-trast to
the statistically significant relationship
be-tween
Rp
and
pH in these animals, the linear
equation relating
increases inpulmonary vascular
resistance
toincreases in
arterialblood
Pco2
hasno
appreciable
slope
(ARp
=0.104
+ 0.00022APC0o2)
-Acute
alkalosis
Amine buffer. The effects of Tris in modifying
the
changes
inducedby
acutehypoxia
onthecom-0.4
-RPV
mm Hg mI/sec
0.3
-0.2
-0.1
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EDWARD H. BERGOFSKY, DAVID E. LEHR AND ALFRED P. FISHMAN
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EFFECT OF PH ON THE PULMONARY CIRCULATION
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. C: C
FIG. 3. THE AVERAGE PULMONARY HEMODYNAMIC
EF-FECTS OF 0.3 M THAM (TRIS) DURING AMBIENT AIR
BREATHING AND DURING HYPOXIA IN FIVE NORMAL HUMAN SUBJECTS. The pulmonary arterial pressure (PPA) is
represented by solid circles for systolic values, open circles formean values,andtriangles fordiastolicvalues;
PBA refers to the mean brachial arterial pressure, Q, to
cardiac output and SaO2 to arterial 02 saturation. The
pulmonary hemodynamic response to acutehypoxia is the same before andduringthe infusion of Tris.
position
of
arterial blood, the pulmonary
circula-tion, and the systemic blood
pressure
aresum-marized for
each
of
the five
human subjects in the
upper
portion of Table
II.
Despite the alkalosis
induced by Tris, the
changes in arterial
oxygen
saturation
and
CO2 tension during
acute
hypoxia
wereapproximately the
same
before and
after
the
infusion
of
the buffer.
Figure 3 summarizes the
average effects
of
acute
hypoxia
onthe
circulation
before
and
after the
infusion
of
Tris.
It may be
seen
that both the pH and the
cardiac output
con-tinued
toincrease
during the
courseof
the
experi-ments.
Nonetheless, the
magnitude and the
pat-tern
of
change of the
pulmonary arterial
pressure
were
unaffected by
the infusions.
The
brachial
arterial
pressure
remained
virtually
unchanged
during the consecutive periods.
Sodium bicarbonate.
The experiments
involv-ing the
use
of
sodium
bicarbonate instead
of
Tris
are
detailed
for the four human.
subjects
in
the
lower
half of
Table
II.
The
degrees of
hypoxemia
149910
Cl
1C
-.0 C')ojQC0%0
c'-54C0)CU) .c)) (0)
Z
:11
0E
I..
co0
E 14.1
0
C
. 4,
Lo
0
CQ
Cd
0 Cd
u)
0
ad
up
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9)n
It .- .0m1100
I
I
0 - o.1 0
t-cialp-r- r o r
eC" -.14 .o ON -tr-U) en .o (=>
t-EDWARD H. BERGOFSKY, DAVID E. LEHR AND ALFRED P. FISHMAN
AFTER NaHCO3
30
PPA
20
7.0
L/min
5.0 PBA 105 Hmg 95 Sa2
95
Sama
85 A%7.52--pH 7.47 7.42
INSPIRED GAS 2 1 %02 12 %02 21 % 02 12.
Oz0
FIG. 4. THE AVERAGE PULMONARY HEMODYNAMIC EF-FECTS OF 0.3 M SODIUM BICARBONATE DURING AMBIENT AIR BREATHING AND DURING HYPOXIA IN FOUR NORMAL HUMANS. Symbols as in Figure 3. The pulmonary
arterial pressor response to hypoxia is the same before andduring the infusion of sodium bicarbonate.
and
alkalosis
werevirtually identical in the Tris
and the bicarbonate experiments.
The effects of
the
twoalkalinizing
agents onthe
cardiac
outputwere
also similar.
Finally,
as maybe
seenin
Fig-ure4, the infusion of sodium bicarbonate, just
asthe infusion
of
Tris, did
notmodify the pulmonary
arterial pressor response to acute
hypoxia.
DISCUSSION
The
presentstudy has shown that
acuteacidosis
in
the
anesthetized dog elicits
anincrease
in
pul-monary
arterial
pressurewithout affecting either
the
pulmonary blood flow
orthe
blood
pressures inthe left ventricle; the magnitude of the
pul-monary
arterial
pressor response toacidosis is
re-lated
tothe
change in the blood pH, rather than
toassociated
anions of the
acids; and
acutealkalosis
in
unanesthetized human subjects does
notmodify
the
pulmonary arterial
pressor response tohy-poxia. These results have
twomajor implications:
acute
acidosis elicits pulmonary vasoconstriction,
and acute
acidosis is
notinvolved
inthe
pulmo-nary
vasoconstriction of
acutehypoxia.
These
experiments also
seem toprovide
area-sonable
explanation
of the variableeffects
whichCO2 breathing is reported
to
exert
onthe
pul-monary circulation
(17, 18).
Thus, according
to
the
present
study,
both
the
infusion of
fixed
acids
and the
breathing of CO2 elicited
the same
rise
in
pulmonary arterial pressure for
equivalent
de-creases in
blood pH,
eventhough
the increments
in
blood
Pco2
were
very small during the
acid
in-fusions
and
very
large during the CO2 breathing.
These
observations suggest that at least some of
the reported
variability
in
the effects
of
CO2
breathing on
the pulmonary circulation
may be
attributable to
the different degrees
of
acidosis
which
CO2 breathing evokes under
different
ex-perimental conditions:
in normal
unanesthetized
human subjects, a "compensatory" increase in
minute ventilation
minimizes
the change
in
blood
pH
sothat
CO2 breathing is without discernible
effect
onthe
pulmonary circulation
(17);
by
way
of contrast, when
ventilation is controlled
sothat
drastic
changes
in
blood pH
can occur,
CO2
breath-ing may elicit
appreciable
increments in
pulmonary
vascular resistance.
The
present
experiments
also suggest
that
the
effect
of a
change
in
blood
pH
onthe pulmonary
circulation originates in extracellular, rather
than
in
intracellular acidosis.
This
conclusion
is based
on
the observation
that
CO2
penetrates cells
morerapidly than does
the hydrogen
ion
(19, 20);
con-sequently, during experimental
periods
of
only
20
minutes, a
comparable
degree of
extracellular
aci-dosis
is apt
tobe associated with
agreater
degree
of
intracellular acidosis during CO2 breathing
than
during the
infusion of
fixed
acids.
The
consistent
relationship between the change
in
pulmonary
ar-terial
pressure and
the
change
in
arterial blood
pH,
regardless
of
the acidifying
agent, suggests
that
the mechanism
for
vasoconstriction
in
acidosis
originates
from
without the
cell.
On
the basis of
experiences
with
severehypoxia
in
the
isolated
lung,
Liljestrand proposed
that the
intrapulmonary
release
of
lactic acid
is
responsible
for the
pulmonary
pressor
response
tohypoxia
(10).
However, in
both the
intact
animal
and
man, acute
hypoxia characteristically elicits
re-spiratory
alkalosis
aswell as
pulmonary
hyperten-sion; it does
notevoke lactic
acidemia
(21).
Therefore, the application of Liljestrand's
hy-pothesis
tothe intact animal
presupposes
that the
lactic acid
is
produced within the vascular
smooth-muscle cells,
but is released in quantities
too small
BEFORE NoHCO3
either
to be detected in
the blood stream or to
af-fect
the
blood
pH. The use of
the
amine
buffer
to
test this possibility is
based upon three
considera-tions:
1)
the
pulmonary vascular cells, like
other
cells,
have
poorer
buffering capacity than has
ex-tracellular fluid
(22);
2) the amine buffer
ac-cumulates
rapidly
in
cells
(23)
so
that
intracellular
pH may be
expected to increase more than does
extracellular pH
(24);
and
3)
the
pKa
of
the
amine buffer
(6.10)
is such
that
it should serve
as an
efficient neutralizer of released acid
(25)
over
the usual range of intracellular or
extracellu-lar
pH
(6.5
to
7.5).
When viewed with respect
to
the extracellular
alkalosis
and the lack of
lac-tic
acidemia, the failure
of
the
amine buffer to
modify
the
pulmonary
arterial pressor response to
hypoxia suggests that
neither intracellular nor
ex-tracellular
lactic acidosis
is involved in the
pul-monary
pressor response
to hypoxia.
SUMMARY
1. The present study
was concerned with the
role of the
hydrogen
ion
in the regulation of the
pulmonary circulation.
2. We found that
acute
acidosis of
sufficient
de-gree,
whether induced by infusion of fixed acids
or
breathing carbon dioxide, consistently elicits an
increase in pulmonary arterial pressure which is,
in
turn, attributable
to
pulmonary vasoconstriction.
3.
The consistent relationship between the
de-gree of
acidosis and
the
increase
in
pulmonary
vas-cular
resistance, regardless
of
the acidifying
agent,
indicates
that the hydrogen ion,
rather than
the
as-sociated anions
of
the acids,
is involved in the
pulmonary
vasoconstriction.
4.
These
experiences
with acute acidosis in dogs
and acute
alkalosis
in man are relevant to
the
role
of the
hydrogen
ion in
the
pulmonary arterial
pres-sor
responses to acute
hypercapnia
and acute
hy-poxia;
whereas
acute
hypercapnia
seems to elicit
pulmonary vasoconstriction
through the acidosis
it
produces,
acute
hypoxia
appears to be an
inde-pendent stimulus
to
pulmonary
vasoconstriction.
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blood flow and peripheral resistance in muscular
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Effect of controlled hydrogen-ion concentration on
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Huckabee,
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dlin.
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