Compartmentation of acid-base balance in brain during complete ischemia.

During near complete hyperglycemic brain ischemia, brain lactate levels rise in excess of 16-18 mmol/K and are associated with severe brain infarction. Analyses of pHo, Pt(CO2), and total brain lactate under these circumstances suggest that H+, HCO3, and lactate become unequally distributed between cells and the interstitial space and, perhaps, even between different types of brain cells. In addition, to whatever physiological advantages it may generate, such compartmentalization may be a factor leading to cell death in brain ischemia.