Question

A common practice of competitive short-distance runners is to hyperventilate (breath rapidly and deeply) prior to a sprint. During the sprint, O2 cannot be transported to the muscles quickly enough to oxidize pyruvate, and metabolism in the muscles occurs anaerobically. a. What would happen to the pH of the blood during hyperventilation and why? b. Write out the equations for the most dynamic component of the blood buffering system. During a sprint, lactic acid builds up as a byproduct of anaerobic respiration? If the concentration of carbonic acid (pKa-6.37) in the blood is 1mM, what would be the change in physiological pH if 0.08mM lactic acid is produced. For this problem, assume lactic acid is a strong acid (it's с. not really).

Answer 1

a. Hyperventillation is the condition in which the breathing system becomes fast that is you start to breath very fast. Healthy breathing occurs when healthy balance between breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide . Healthy breathing balance upset when you hyperventillate by exhaling more than you inhale. Hyperventillation causes carbon dioxide level in the blood decrease. This lower level of carbon dioxide reduces blood flow to brain which may results in the following nervous system.

Chemical binding of oxygen with haemoglobin is directly affected by pH of the blood, that is acidity and alkalinity of blood.

Hyperventillation causes loss of carbon dioxide from the body. This means the heamoglobin picking up more oxygen, which cause the pH of the blood to increase and become more alkaline. This is called respiratory alkolysis. It is occurs when you breath too fast or too deep and carbon dioxide drops too low.

Thus, during hyperventillation carbon dioxide level in the body drops down, which causes increase in pH of the blood.