Intracellular pH Measurement

Katalin Szaszi, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sergio Grinstein, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Published online: May 2005

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0003915

Measurement of intracellular pH requires preservation of cellular integrity. For this purpose, biophysical methods such as nuclear magnetic resonance, fluorescence spectroscopy and pH-sensitive microelectrodes can be applied.

Keywords: intracellular pH; organellar pH; H+ transport; microelectrode; fluorescence spectroscopy

Figure 1. Measurement of intracellular pH using the distribution of a weak acid. HA is the conjugate form of the weak acid; A– is the anionic form.
Figure 2. (a) Loading of a fluorescent dye into the cell. ex, excitation wavelength; em, emission wavelength. (b) The pH-dependent emission spectra of fluorescein measured at 490 nm excitation wavelength.
close
 References
    Boron WF (1983) Transport of  H+ and of ionic weak acids and bases. Journal of Membrane Biology 72: 1–16.
    Jankowski A, Scott CC and Ginstein S (2002) Determinants of the phagosomal pH in neutrophils. Journal of Biological Chemistry 277: 6059–6066.
    book Konings WN, Kaback HR and Lolkema JS (eds) (1996) Transport Process in Eukaryotic and Prokaryotic Organisms. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
    Loiselle FB and Casey JR (2003) Measurement of intracellular pH. Methods in Molecular Biology 227: 259–280.
    Roos A and Boron WF (1981) Intracellular pH. Physiological Reviews 61: 296–434.
    Takahashi A, Zhang Y, Centonze E and Herman B (2001) Measurement of mitochondrial pH in situ. Biotechniques 30: 804–808.
    Van Den Thillart G and Van Waarde A (1996) Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy of living systems: applications in comparative physiology. Physiological Reviews 76: 799–837.
    Zhang J, Campbell RE, Ting Y and Tsien RY (2002) Creating new fluorescent probes for cell biology. Nature Reviews: Molecular Cell Biology 3: 906–918.
 Further Reading
    book Ciba Foundation (1988) Proton Passage Across Cell Membranes. Ciba Foundation Symposium, No 139. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Interscience.

Related Sub-Topics:

Cell Compartments and Cellular Organelles | Techniques in Cell Biology | Biochemical and Biophysical Techniques
Contact Editor close
Submit a note to the editor about this article by filling in the form below.

* Required Field

Article Title: Intracellular pH Measurement
 
How to Cite close
Szaszi, Katalin, and Grinstein, Sergio(May 2005) Intracellular pH Measurement. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0003915]