Department of Energy Argonne National Laboratory Office of Science NEWTON's Homepage NEWTON's Homepage
NEWTON, Ask A Scientist!
NEWTON Home Page NEWTON Teachers Visit Our Archives Ask A Question How To Ask A Question Question of the Week Our Expert Scientists Volunteer at NEWTON! Frequently Asked Questions Referencing NEWTON About NEWTON About Ask A Scientist Education At Argonne Cytoplasm pH 
Name: Thota
Status: Other
Grade:  Other
Location: N/A
Country: United States
Date: May 2005
Question:
What is the pH of cell nucleus and cytoplasm? I know it will vary in membrane bound cell organelles. But, Is there any number,approximately?


Replies:
Dear Thota:

The online textbook, Molecular Biology of the Cell @ NCBI has a great section describing how "Carrier Proteins in the Plasma Membrane Regulate Cytosolic pH" (

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fcgi?rid=mboc4.section.1999#2010 ).

It's apparently ≈ 7.2 in most resting cells, but it certainly varies w/ cellular metabolic functions, particularly exercise. I wouldn't think that the nucleus would differ significantly from the cytoplasm overall, but are almost certainly pH microenvironments in both the cytoplasm & nucleoplasm. I ran across a study in which nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was used to measure the decrease in intracellular pH resulting from muscle contraction under anaerobic conditions, so there are many new, high-tech methods for investigating cell biology that could be applied to answer this more thoroughly, if you're interested in a research project.

Thanks for the great question,

Jeff Buzby, Ph.D.
CHOC Research Institute
NEWTON AAS
Div. of Educational Programs
Argonne National Laboratory


Click here to return to the Molecular Biology Archives

NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.

For assistance with NEWTON contact a System Operator (help@newton.dep.anl.gov), or at Argonne's Educational Programs

NEWTON AND ASK A SCIENTIST
Educational Programs
Building 360
9700 S. Cass Ave.
Argonne, Illinois
60439-4845, USA
Update: June 2012
Weclome To Newton

Argonne National Laboratory