Mechanism of renal hydrogen ion secretion

Abstract

The CO2-HCQ system. The three main acidifying pro-cesses, bicarbonate reabsorption, the generation of titrat-able acid and ammonia production are thought to be mediated by the common mechanism of hydrogen ion secretion. Accordingly, considerable interest has focused on the tubular mechanism underlying hydrogen ion trans-port. In principle, the acidification of tubular fluid could be achieved by two operations: the secretion of acid into the lumen or the reabsorption of alkali from the lumen to peritubular fluid. These two possibilities are schematically summarized in Fig.