Talk:Bicarbonate buffer system

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Abuzzanco.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 15:41, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Proposed Changes, Outline
This page is in need of improvement, so I will be making changes and adding some content, per the brief outline below. If you feel I should add something or you would like to leave any advice regarding some topics, please let me know; I will continue to modify this outline as I continue to edit so that my plan and changes are easily tracked.

Introduction
Someone recently deleted the entire introduction, but I will rewrite it to give a more eloquently written explanation that includes:
 * A basic, easy-to-understand definition (Including its composition and purpose) while emphasizing the importance of acid-base chemistry in biological systems
 * Where the bicarbonate buffering system operates (blood and duodenum)
 * The scope/significance of the BBS on homeostasis (the “why it matters”)
 * A chemical equation showing the equilibrium reactions between CO2, HCO3-, and H2CO3

Derivation
I plan to expand on the derivation of the modified Henderson-Hasselbalch equation to derive the following, which is commonly used by physicians to readily access blood pH: $$[H^+] = \frac{K^' \times 0.03P_{CO_2}}{[HCO_3^-]} = 24\frac{P_{CO_2}}{[HCO_3^-]}$$


 * I do not understand the explanation of "pH is acidity in the blood" in the points enumerated below the equation as blood is slightly alkaline in pH Anonymousandmist (talk) 10:00, 5 June 2022 (UTC)

Role in Blood
I plan to dedicate a section to explaining how the bicarbonate buffering system plays a role in balancing the pH of the blood, including the following points:
 * The specific enzymes and other molecules that work to maintain the bicarbonate buffering system
 * How the blood buffering system responds to changes in physiological conditions
 * Consequences of the failure of this system (acidemia, alkalemia)
 * A bicarbonate buffer curve with the normal pH of human blood
 * A neat diagram for the BBS in the blood (including carbonic anhydrase)

Role in Duodenum
I also plan to explain how the BBS aids in digestion and the protection of duodenal epithelial cells, with emphasis on the mechanism of action in response to stomach acid produced by stomach chief cells. Briefly mention how this system is disrupted by H. pylori infections and other conditions/disorders

Can't wait to start! Abuzzanco (talk) 06:05, 3 November 2015 (UTC)

carbonic acid
In the lede, the statement "the balance of carbonic acid,, bicarbonate ion , and carbon dioxide " is incorrect for two reasons i) the buffer system is mediated by carbonic anhydrase, which does not involve the acid ii) the first pK of carbonic acid has a value of 3.6; this means that at biological pH values the equilibrium concentration of  will anyway be negligible. Petergans (talk) 15:56, 31 October 2020 (UTC)

Use of mmHg alone
I’m unsure of which countries use mmHg and kPa for units of partial pressure in medicine (aside from the US and UK respectively). But I think it would be useful for people from countries that use kPa to have the examples which use partial pressure have the values used written in kPa too (e.g. the use of the Kh of CO2 and Partial pressure of CO2 used in the Kassirer-Bleich and Henderson-Hasslebach sections).

So, I’m saying as well as the existing examples using mmHg we should also have examples using kPa rufioh talksign 06:24, 28 December 2021 (UTC)