5. ACIWBASE BALANCE
187
In a similar way temperature affects the dissociation constants of the
substances involved in the buffering processes. This has two consequences: (1) if a blood sample is cooled anaerobically, its p H will increase by roughly 0.015 per each degree centigrade; ( 2 ) if blood is
equilibrated with CO:, not only the physically dissolved CO, but also
the chemically bound CO, increases if the temperature is lowered (see
Fig. 12). This mav be explained as follows: If the blood is cooled, the
PH
18.0
3 {
2
'9
0.6
0.5
0.4
Exornp\e : f = 38OC, pH.7.40;
Fig. 6. Relative alkalinity and [OH-]/[H+] as a function of pH and temperature.
Adopted from Albers (1962).