Is ischemia-induced pH decrease of dog myocardium respiratory or metabolic acidosis?

Ischemia causes myocardial acidosis and elevation of myocardial CO2 tension (PCO2). We performed the present study to examine whether accumulation of hydrogen ion is a cause or result of accumulation of CO2. The myocardial pH and PCO2 were measured simultaneously in the dog heart, and the concentration of HCO-3 [( HCO-3]) was calculated according to the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation. Ischemia was induced by either partial or complete occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD). After LAD occlusion, the myocardial pH decreased with a marked decrease in [HCO-3], indicating that metabolic acidosis occurred. We ascertained in experiments with blood sample in vitro that an addition of lactic acid into blood decreased both [HCO-3] and pH (metabolic acidosis), whereas an addition of CO2 gas into blood increased [HCO-3] and decreased pH (respiratory acidosis). These findings suggest that ischemic acidosis is not respiratory in nature, but metabolic. The myocardial pH decrease due to ischemia, however, cannot be explained by the tissue lactate accumulation alone, because the decrease of [HCO-3] is far greater than the increase of lactic acid during ischemia.