...Stanley S. Hillman; Michael S. Hedrick ABSTRACT Body temperature increases in ectothermic vertebrates characteristically lead to both increases in arterial P CO 2 ( P a CO 2 ) and declines in resting arterial pH (pHa) of about 0.017 pH units per 1°C increase in temperature. This ‘alphastat’ pH...

...Richard F. Burton SUMMARY The `imidazole alphastat hypothesis' states that intracellular and extracellular pH, partly via buffering by imidazole groups, change with temperature in a way that keeps imidazole and protein ionization constant, thus maintaining cell function and minimizing shifts...

... and for constant dissociation of imidazole. The changes of cerebrospinal fluid pH with temperature, calculated from the mean arterial values, were even smaller [ΔpH/Δt csf = −0·008). It is concluded that the observed temperature dependence of the acid-base status is not in agreement with the alphastat hypothesis...