31P-NMR in vivo measurement of renal intracellular pH: effects of acidosis and K+ depletion in rats.

Renal intracellular pH (pHi) was measured in vivo from the chemical shift (sigma) of inorganic phosphate (Pi), obtained by 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). pH was calculated from the difference between sigma Pi and sigma alpha-ATP. Changes of sigma Pi closely correlated with changes of sigma monophosphoesters; this supports the hypothesis that the pH determined from sigma Pi represents pHi. Renal pH in control rats was 7.39 +/- 0.04 (n = 8). This is higher than pHi of muscle and brain in vivo, suggesting that renal Na-H antiporter activity raises renal pHi. To examine the relationship between renal pH and ammoniagenesis, rats were subjected to acute (less than 24 h) and chronic (4-7 days) metabolic acidosis, acute (20 min) and chronic (6-8 days) respiratory acidosis, and dietary potassium depletion (7-21 days). Acute metabolic and respiratory acidosis produced acidification of renal pHi. Chronic metabolic acidosis (arterial blood pH, 7.26 +/- 0.02) lowered renal pHi to 7.30 +/- 0.02, but chronic respiratory acidosis (arterial blood pH, 7.30 +/- 0.05) was not associated with renal acidosis (pH, 7.40 +/- 0.04). At a similar level of blood pH, pHi was higher in chronic metabolic acidosis than in acute metabolic acidosis, suggesting an adaptive process that raises pHi. Potassium depletion (arterial blood pH, 7.44 +/- 0.05) was associated with a marked renal acidosis (renal pH, 7.17 +/- 0.02). There was a direct relationship between renal pH and cardiac K+. Rapid partial repletion with KCl (1 mmol) significantly increased renal pHi from 7.14 +/- 0.03 to 7.31 +/- 0.01.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)