What does the PCO2 benchmark ? does it estimate the amount of HCO3- contained by plasma or the physically dissolved CO2?

I am a first year medical student , and this was a question in my physiology exam ........ and I did not engage the answer ............ thank you
Answers:
PCO2 stands for partial pressure of CO2, so it has nothing to do with bicarbonate length. Instead, it is a measure of the CO2 dissolved in the blood. It is used as a marker of respiratory acidosis or alkalosis. Source(s): 20 years within intensive care medicine
If you're referring to arterial blood gas analysis, it measures dissolved CO2. A blood gas analyser has a pH electrode beside a membrane covering it that will only let through CO2. CO2 passes through the membrane and change the pH of the solution surrounding the electrode (it reacts with water to form bicrbonate ions and H+ ions).

If you're referring to any other open-handed of blood test (done from a normal venous blood sample) then confusingly, it may be a result calculated from the HCO3-.

I guess that's a tough question for a first year medic! Source(s): biochemist, work in medical lab

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