Effects of Alkalosis on Plasma Concentration and Urinary Excretion of Inorganic Phosphate in Man*

Abstract

In 1924, Haldane, Wigglesworth, and Wood- row reported on the effect of reaction changes on human inorganic metabolism (1). They found that respiratory alkalosis caused a sharp fall and respiratory acidosis a sharp rise in serum phos- phorus concentration. They also examined metabolic changes induced by oral ingestion of Na- HCO3 or NH4Cl for several days, but respiratory compensation would have minimized pH changes under the conditions of their experiments. They found no significant deviation of serum phosphorus from normal values. The influence of alkalosis on serum and urinary phosphorus has been intermittently observed since that time during ex- periments on hydrogen ion disturbances in dogs and in man (2-9). However, most recent re- views on phosphorus metabolism and the para- thyroids do not mention the effect of blood hy- drogen ion concentration or carbon dioxide tension upon the concentration of phosphorus in the serum or upon the urinary excretion and clearance of phosphorus (10-22).