Effect of Potassium Deficiency on Carbon Dioxide, Cation, and Phosphate Content of Muscle

Abstract

Albino rats weighing 160 to 175 gm. were fed a complete synthetic diet containing 0.003 per cent potassium and 0.7 per cent sodium for 40 days. Controls were given the same diet plus adequate added potassium. 1. Data from analyses of serum and skeletal muscle showed (a) a fall in serum chloride concentration and an increase in serum carbon dioxide concentration and pH in the potassium-deficient rats; (b) increases of sodium, magnesium, and calcium and a decrease of potassium in the muscle of the potassium-deficient rats; (c) no change of muscle chloride or carbon dioxide concentrations in the potassium-deficient rats. (2) Application of the Wallace-Hastings calculations to these data revealed (a) intracellular pH of the skeletal muscle of the normal rat to be 6.98 ± 0.08; (b) an increase in serum partial pressure of carbon dioxide (pCO2) in potassium deficiency, together with increases in concentrations of [H2CO2] and [HCO3-] per kg. extracellular water and [H2CO3] per kg. cell water; (c) a decrease in values for [CO2] and [HCO3-] per kg. intracellular water; (d) a fall of intracellular pH in potassium deficiency to 6.42 ± 0.05. (3) Analyses of sacrospinalis muscle from five men undergoing operation for ruptured intervertebral disc showed a mean value of 9.46 ± 1.31 mM carbon dioxide per kg. blood-free tissue. Some problems of interpretation of data are briefly discussed.

The Role of Chloride in Hypokalemic Alkalosis in the Rat*

“…Disappearance of plasma abnormalities following the acute administration of potassium chloride to nephrectomized potassiumdeficient rats (2) seemed to support this hypothesis, as did the finding by some investigators (3)(4)(5) of a decrease of intracellular pH in potassiumdeficient compared with normal skeletal muscle. Other workers, however, failed to find evidence of intracellular acidosis in potassium-deficient muscle (6,7).…”

“…Cooke and associates (1) suggested that the resulting cation deficit was compensated by net movement of hydrogen ion from the extracellular compartment to cells, causing extracellular alkalosis and intracellular acidosis. Disappearance of plasma abnormalities on the acute administration of potassium chloride to nephrectomized potassium-deficient rats (2) and the finding of intracellular acidosis in earlier investigations (3)(4)(5) seemed to support this hypothesis.…”

An investigation of the ionic mechanism of intracellular pH regulation in mouse soleus muscle fibres

“…1 a). This was deduced both from the considerable decrease in muscle K content on acidosis (Goto, 1918) and from the fall in pHi seen on K+ depletion first described by Gardner, MacLachlan & Berman (1952) and later the subject of a considerable volume of work using indirect methods for measurement of pH1 (for references see Waddell & Bates, 1969;Cohen & Iles, 1975 was that active H+ extrusion was impaired by K+ depletion (Irvine, Saunders, Milne & Crawford, 1960). An alternative interpretation of these results was that H+ ions share the outward limb of the Na pump ( Fig.…”

Measurement of Intracellular pH of Skeletal Muscle with pH-sensitive Glass Microelectrodes*

“…Other investigators (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15), however, using either * Submitted for publication August 19, 1965; accepted February 17, 1967. Supported in part by grants 5 TI AM-5028 and 5 TI HE-5469 from the National Institutes of Health.…”