Textbook Question
Mary, a nursing student, has been caring for burn patients. She notices that they consistently show elevated levels of potassium in their urine and wonders why. What would you tell her?
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Ch. 27 Fluids & Electrolytes
Martini, Nath, Bartholomew12th EditionFundamentals of Anatomy and PhysiologyISBN: 9780137854011
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Table of contents
- Ch. 1 An Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology25
- Ch. 2 The Chemical Level of Organization34
- Ch. 3 The Cellular Level of Organization29
- Ch. 4 The Tissue Level of Organization24
- Ch. 5 The Integumentary System17
- Ch. 6 Bones and Bone Structure33
- Ch. 7 The Axial Skeleton11
- Ch. 8 The Appendicular Skeleton17
- Ch. 9 Joints13
- Ch. 10 Muscle Tissue12
- Ch. 11 The Muscular System28
- Ch. 12 Nervous Tissue18
- Ch. 13 The Spinal Cord, Spinal Nerves, and Spinal Reflexes22
- Ch. 14 The Brain and Cranial Nerves20
- Ch. 15 Sensory Pathways and the Somatic Nervous System17
- Ch. 16 The Autonomic Nervous System and Higher-Order Functions30
- Ch. 17 The Special Senses15
- Ch. 18 The Endocrine System21
- Ch. 19 Blood31
- Ch. 20 The Heart31
- Ch. 21 Blood Vessels and Circulation26
- Ch. 22 The Lymphatic System and Immunity25
- Ch. 23 The Respiratory System4
- Ch. 24 The Digestive System18
- Ch. 26 The Urinary System31
- Ch. 27 Fluids & Electrolytes30
- Ch. 28 The Reproductive System12
- Ch. 29 Development and Inheritance17
Martini, Nath, Bartholomew12th EditionFundamentals of Anatomy and PhysiologyISBN: 9780137854011Not the one you use?Change textbook
Chapter 26, Problem 29
While visiting a foreign country, Milly inadvertently drinks some water, even though she had been advised not to. She contracts an intestinal disease that causes severe diarrhea. How would you expect her condition to affect her blood pH, urine pH, and pattern of ventilation?
Verified step by step guidance1
Step 1: Understand the physiological impact of severe diarrhea on the body's acid-base balance. Diarrhea causes excessive loss of bicarbonate (HCO\_3\^-), which is a base, from the intestines. This loss leads to a decrease in blood bicarbonate levels, resulting in metabolic acidosis (a decrease in blood pH).
Step 2: Predict the effect on blood pH. Since bicarbonate acts as a buffer to neutralize acids in the blood, losing bicarbonate through diarrhea reduces the blood's buffering capacity, causing the blood pH to drop (become more acidic).
Step 3: Consider the kidney's response and urine pH. To compensate for metabolic acidosis, the kidneys will try to excrete more hydrogen ions (H\^+) and conserve bicarbonate, which typically results in more acidic urine (lower urine pH).
Step 4: Analyze the respiratory system's compensatory response. The body will attempt to correct the acidosis by increasing ventilation (hyperventilation) to blow off more carbon dioxide (CO\_2), which reduces carbonic acid in the blood and helps raise blood pH toward normal.
Step 5: Summarize the expected changes: blood pH decreases (acidosis), urine pH decreases (more acidic), and ventilation rate increases (hyperventilation) as a compensatory mechanism.
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Key Concepts
Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.
Effect of Diarrhea on Acid-Base Balance
Severe diarrhea causes loss of bicarbonate-rich intestinal fluids, leading to a decrease in blood bicarbonate levels. This results in metabolic acidosis, characterized by a lowered blood pH due to the reduced buffering capacity in the blood.
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Acids and Bases
Renal Compensation and Urine pH Changes
In response to metabolic acidosis, the kidneys attempt to compensate by excreting more hydrogen ions and reabsorbing bicarbonate. This leads to a decrease in urine pH, making the urine more acidic as the body tries to restore acid-base balance.
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Respiratory Compensation via Ventilation
To compensate for metabolic acidosis, the respiratory system increases ventilation rate (hyperventilation) to expel more CO2. Lowering CO2 reduces carbonic acid in the blood, helping to raise blood pH toward normal.
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Related Practice
Textbook Question
Yuka is dehydrated, so her physician prescribes intravenous fluids. The attending nurse becomes distracted and erroneously gives Yuka a hypertonic glucose solution instead of normal saline. What effect will this mistake have on Yuka’s plasma ADH levels and urine volume?
Textbook Question
Dan has been lost in the desert for 2 days with very little water. As a result of this exposure, you would expect to observe which of the following?
(a) Increased ADH levels
(b) Decreased blood osmolarity
(c) Normal urine production
(d) Increased blood volume
(e) Cells enlarged with fluid
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Textbook Question
After falling into an abandoned stone quarry filled with water and nearly drowning, a young boy is rescued. In assessing his condition, rescuers find that his body fluids have high PCO₂ and lactate levels and low PO₂ levels. Identify the underlying problem and recommend the necessary treatment to restore homeostatic conditions.
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Textbook Question
Refer to the diagnostic flowchart in Spotlight Figure 27–18. Use information from the blood test results in the accompanying table to categorize the suspected acid-base disorders of the patients represented in the table.