The effects of lactic acid production on contraction and intracellular pH during hypoxia in cardiac muscle.

During hypoxia cardiac contraction declines and there is an intracellular acidosis. We find that, if this acidosis is abolished by decreasing pCO2 there is little restoration of force. Therefore the acidosis is not the major cause of the decline of force. The acidosis may partly result from the generation of lactic acid. No acidosis, is however, seen in isolated cardiac cells. Furthermore a theoretical model shows that lactic acid production would be expected to produce a transient acidosis. We suggest that the observed maintained acidosis may be a consequence of extracellular lactic acid accumulation affecting intracellular pH.