Acid-base chemistry: practice question

The best answer is C, Bicarbonate-carbonic acid. The bicarbonate-carbonic acid system is the principal extracellular buffer because its components are regulated by the lungs through carbon dioxide elimination and by the kidneys through bicarbonate handling.

Haemoglobin buffers within red cells but is not the main extracellular system.

Ammonia buffering is important in renal acid excretion, not as the main plasma buffer.

Phosphate is more important intracellularly and in renal tubular fluid.

It tests Acid-base chemistry in Biochemistry. The correct option holds because: Correct: bicarbonate-carbonic acid is the dominant extracellular buffer.

We tag it as an application question: it asks you to use a fact on a patient or a finding. The tag is our own editorial judgement, not an official difficulty rating, so read the reason for every option, not only the answer.

Build one table of enzyme deficiency, disease, inheritance and key finding, then revise it by spaced recall. Then use the flashcards and the other Biochemistry questions on this site to test what stuck.

No. It is an original practice item (editorial status: sample, version 1). NextPrep does not publish recalled or leaked questions, and independent faculty review of this item has not been completed yet, so confirm important facts in a standard textbook.