Bikov Andras, Horvath Ildiko
Department of Pulmonology, Semmelweis University, 1125, Dios arok 1/C, Budapest, Hungary.
Curr Top Med Chem. 2016;16(14):1550-60. doi: 10.2174/1568026616666150930120421.
Exhaled breath condensate (EBC) pH is a commonly studied biomarker which represents the acidity of the whole airway tract, including the lower and upper airways as well as oral cavity. Because neat, unprocessed EBC pH can be affected by environmental and end-tidal carbon dioxide, two further reproducible techniques have been developed to measure condensate acidity with several methodological, pathophysiological and environmental factors which may influence EBC pH. Airway acidification may contribute to various pathological features of asthma, therefore EBC pH may be a non-invasive, but unspecific clinical biomarker of this disorder. This review summarises the current knowledge on EBC pH in asthma focusing on methodological aspects and possible clinical applications.
呼出气冷凝液（EBC）pH值是一种常用的生物标志物，它代表整个气道的酸度，包括下呼吸道、上呼吸道以及口腔。由于未经处理的纯净EBC pH值会受到环境因素和呼气末二氧化碳的影响，因此已经开发出另外两种可重复的技术来测量冷凝液酸度，同时考虑到可能影响EBC pH值的几个方法学、病理生理学和环境因素。气道酸化可能导致哮喘的各种病理特征，因此EBC pH值可能是这种疾病的一种非侵入性但非特异性的临床生物标志物。本综述总结了目前关于哮喘中EBC pH值的知识，重点关注方法学方面和可能的临床应用。
