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ShaJuan D. Watts The Importance of Electrolytes in Human Physiology If you have ever heard a Gatorade or any other sports drink commercial youve probably heard the term electrolytes being thrown around as if it is of some great importance. Well the truth is electrolytes are very important; in fact they are vital to human physiology, which is the study of human bodily functions that maintain life. Electrolytes are so important because they are literally electric! This electricity comes for the fact that some ions the human body consumes dissociate in aqueous solutions producing an electrical charge (Kunzelmann, 2002). These electrical charges that are produced help things such as neuron cells in the body transmit information to and from the brain, and also throughout the nervous system. For example, if you are exercising and experience a huge drop in sodium ions because they are being loss through sweat, the neurons in your body would not be able to transmit vital information as sufficiently. So this vital role electrolytes play in human physiology might be why sport drink companies advertise around their importance. However, there are many levels to electrolyte functions in human physiology. There are some electrolytes that are referred to as weak electrolytes, because certain ions consumed by the body do not dissociate completely (Jacobs,1940). Therefore, they produce a weak electrical charge in the body. Although, the charges produced by weak electrolytes are not as strong relatively to the other main types of electrolytes they still play a vital role in human physiology. For example, Carbonic acid is a relatively weak for m of electrolyte produced in the body, however, carbonic acid plays a crucial role in balancing the pH in blood and in regulating respiratory functions. Therefore, you can see that even though the ion concentration of certain elements vary in the body, all of these ions play a vital role when they come in contact with an

aqueous solutions because they produce specific electrolytes for the regulation of human physiology.

References

American Physiological Society (1887- ). American Journal of Physiology. [Bethesda, Md.]: American Physiological Society. Web. 23rd January 2014.

Halperin, Mitchell L., Marc B. Goldstein, and Kamel S. Kamel. Fluid, electrolyte and acid-base physiology: a problem-based approach. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2010.

Jacobs, M. H. "Some aspects of cell permeability to weak electrolytes." Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology. Vol. 8. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 1940.

Kunzelmann, Karl, and Marcus Mall. "Electrolyte transport in the mammalian colon: mechanisms and implications for disease." Physiological Reviews 82.1 (2002): 245-289. Trace Elements and Electrolytes. January 2014. nchen-Deisenhofen: Dustri-Verlag, 1994. Web. 23rd