Determination of the pH of Hemolyzed Packed Red Cells from Arterial Blood

Abstract
A technic is described for the determination of the in vivo pH of red blood cell hemolysates. The mean arterial red cell pH of 20 normal subjects was 7.19 with a range of 7.15 to 7.22. The fiducial probability at the 0.95 level is 7.13 to 7.25. The mean difference in pH between plasma and cells was 0.21, with a range of 0.15 to 0.23. It is suggested that changes in pH of erythrocytes may reflect changes in other less accessible cells of the body and that the determination may be a useful research and clinical procedure in the study of metabolic and respiratory derangements.