Bal, Wojciech and Kurowska, Ewa and Maret, Wolfgang (2012) The Final Frontier of pH and the Undiscovered Country Beyond. PloS one . ISSN 1932-6203
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Abstract
The comparison of volumes of cells and subcellular structures with the pH values reported for them leads to a conflict with the definition of the pH scale. The pH scale is based on the ionic product of water, Kw = [H+]6[OH2].We used Kw [in a reversed way] to calculate the number of undissociated H2O molecules required by this equilibrium constant to yield at least one of its daughter ions, H+ or OH2 at a given pH. In this way we obtained a formula that relates pH to the minimal volume VpH required to provide a physical meaning to Kw, VpH~10DpH{pKw=2D| 10pKw=2 NA (where NA is Avogadro’s number). For example, at pH 7 (neutral at 25uC) VpH = 16.6 aL. Any deviation from neutral pH results in a larger VpH value. Our results indicate that many subcellular structures, including coated vesicles and lysosomes, are too small to contain free H+ ions at equilibrium, thus the definition of pH based on Kw is no longer valid. Larger subcellular structures, such as mitochondria, apparently contain only a few free H+ ions. These results indicate that pH fails to describe intracellular conditions, and that water appears to be dissociated too weakly to provide free H+ ions as a general source for biochemical reactions. Consequences of this finding are discussed.
Item Type: | Article |
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Subjects: | Q Science > QD Chemistry |
Divisions: | Department of Biophysics |
ID Code: | 480 |
Deposited By: | Prof Wojciech Bal |
Deposited On: | 03 Apr 2013 08:57 |
Last Modified: | 13 Oct 2014 13:35 |
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