Anaerobic skin metabolism in healthy men estimated with transcutaneous PCO2 electrode.

It is shown how the anaerobic energy production of the skin may be calculated from a transcutaneous PCO2 curve obtained at 37 degrees C during arterial occlusion. Thirty healthy volunteers were studied three times. The inter-individual differences in estimated ATP production were highly significant, but the intra-individual ones were not. The grand mean of the triplicate experiments of all the 30 subjects was an ATP production rate of 0.33 mmol X l-1 X min-1. Assuming no initial metabolic acidosis or alkalosis, the estimated mean extracellular fluid pH was 7.33 before and 7.26 after 4 min of stasis.