Calculation of physiological acid-base parameters in multicompartment systems with application to human blood.

A general formalism for calculating parameters describing physiological acid-base balance in single compartments is extended to multicompartment systems and demonstrated for the multicompartment example of human whole blood. Expressions for total titratable base, strong ion difference, change in total titratable base, change in strong ion difference, and change in Van Slyke standard bicarbonate are derived, giving calculated values in agreement with experimental data. The equations for multicompartment systems are found to have the same mathematical interrelationships as those for single compartments, and the relationship of the present formalism to the traditional form of the Van Slyke equation is also demonstrated. The multicompartment model brings the strong ion difference theory to the same quantitative level as the base excess method.