Blood Serum Potassium and Sodium Concentration Constants: Search for Regulatory Factors

Abstract

The age-related dynamics of serum potassium concentration was studied. Extreme conditions (spaceflight, prolonged hypokinesia, or immersion) provide similar tendencies of the decrease of blood serum potassium concentration. In chronic kidney disease, before the end stage renal disease is developed, two trends of disturbance in the potassium homeostasis: hyperkalemia or hypokalemia was revealed. The serum sodium concentration is stable under the above mentioned physiological conditions. Acute hypernatremia leads to an increase in the potassium concentration followed by a tendency of stable Na⁺/K⁺ ratio. The establishment of an internal standard of the physicochemical parameters of internal fluids was discussed.