Effect of Alterations in the Acid-Base Equilibrium on the Lead Contents of the Blood and the Mineral Contents of Plasma and Erythrocytes in Normal Persons

• Main Authors: Schmitt, Frida, Roettger, Irmgard
• Other Authors: ARMY BIOLOGICAL LABS FREDERICK MD
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1968
• Subjects: Anatomy and Physiology; Toxicology; *NUTRITION; *LEAD(METAL); *METAL POISONING; ACID BASE EQUILIBRIUM; METABOLISM; TRANSLATIONS; GERMANY(EAST AND WEST); BLOOD PLASMA; PH FACTOR; HEMOGLOBIN; ERYTHROCYTES; FOREIGN REPORTS; Carbonic acid
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0846819; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0846819

A shift in the acid-base equilibrium of the organism toward the acid or alkaline side evokes the mobilization of lead, even in healthy persons. The activation of lead is greater toward the acid side than toward the alkaline. On acid days, the movement of chlorine and lead is found to be uniform, while the decrease in chlorine is matched by an increase in lead on basic days, leading to the assumption that the mobilization of lead represents a function of the change in pH. Acid as well as basic days yield concentrations of lead in excess of the norm. It is significant in the daily profile of the acid days that the highest values of lead coincide with the lowest position of the curve representing carbonic acid fixation. These tests have shown how readily the hemal lead content is changed by relatively trifling operations, even in lead-free persons. For the practical evaluation of the level of hemal lead, this circumstance reveals that 'increased' values do not necessarily reflect a plumbic disease, but may be an expression of corresponding mutrition or therapy. Trans. of Deutsches Archiv fuer Klinische Medizin (Germany) v184 p286-295, 1939.