Final answer:
Respiratory acidosis is an overly acidic blood condition due to excessive carbonic acid/CO₂, often resulting from impaired respiration. The body compensates by adjusting bicarbonate levels, while respiratory alkalosis is caused by a deficiency of CO₂, typically due to hyperventilation.
Step-by-step explanation:
Respiratory acidosis is a condition characterized by an excess of carbonic acid or CO₂ in the blood, making it overly acidic. This condition often occurs due to insufficient respiration, such as in cases of pneumonia, emphysema, or congestive heart failure. When respiratory acidosis takes place, the body may respond through a compensatory mechanism, increasing the bicarbonate level to balance the bicarbonate to carbonic acid/CO₂ ratio. Conversely, respiratory alkalosis arises due to a deficiency in carbonic acid and CO₂, leading to over-alkalinity of the blood.
Conditions like hyperventilation—triggered by fear, fever, or hypoxia—or salicylate toxicity can induce respiratory alkalosis by exhaling too much CO₂. In newborns, especially prematurely born infants who may develop Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS), respiratory adjustments are critical. The elevated CO₂ levels at birth due to a cut in the oxygenated blood supply stimulate the respiratory center in the brain to initiate breathing. Hence, understanding the processes of respiratory compensation is essential to manage both respiratory acidosis and respiratory alkalosis, wherein the body attempts to reestablish themal pH levels by adjusting respiration to either eliminate or retain CO₂.