Editing Lactic acid (section)

==Blood testing==
[[File:Blood values sorted by mass and molar concentration.png|thumb|450px|[[Reference ranges for blood tests]], comparing lactate content (shown in violet at center-right) to other constituents in human blood]]
[[Blood test]]s for lactate are performed to determine the status of the [[acid base homeostasis]] in the body. [[Blood sampling]] for this purpose is often [[arterial blood sampling|arterial]] (even if it is more difficult than [[venipuncture]]), because lactate levels differ substantially between arterial and venous, and the arterial level is more representative for this purpose.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Reference ranges
|-
!
!Lower limit
!Upper limit
!Unit
|-
! rowspan =2| Venous
| 4.5<ref name=bloodbook>[http://www.bloodbook.com/ranges.html Blood Test Results – Normal Ranges] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102092931/http://www.bloodbook.com/ranges.html |date=2 November 2012 }} Bloodbook.Com</ref> || 19.8<ref name=bloodbook/> || mg/dL
 |-
| 0.5<ref name=lactate-mass>Derived from mass values using molar mass of 90.08 g/mol</ref> || 2.2<ref name=lactate-mass/> || mmol/L
 |-
! rowspan =2| Arterial
| 4.5<ref name=bloodbook/> || 14.4<ref name=bloodbook/> || mg/dL
 |-
| 0.5<ref name="lactate-mass"/> || 1.6<ref name=lactate-mass/> || mmol/L
 |}

During [[childbirth]], lactate levels in the fetus can be quantified by [[fetal scalp blood testing]].