A Rapid Electrochemical Technic for Measuring Carbon Dioxide Content of Blood

摘要

An electrochemical technic for measuring carbon dioxide (CO2) content in whole blood has been devised and evaluated. The method requires a membrane-covered pH electrode for the CO2 measurements. This electrode system permits rapid determination of CO2 content in blood samples of less than 1 ml. The measurement is performed by hemolyzing and acidifying a blood sample in such a manner that the released CO2 goes into physical solution. The increase of tension caused by this physically dissolved CO2 is measured by exposing the sample to a previously calibrated electrode. While use of the technic requires some compromise with accuracy (standard deviation of replicate samples = 0.76 volume/100 ml. compared with 0.12 volume/100 ml. for the Van Slyke manometric procedure), its convenience may outweigh this consideration in certain routine applications.