Editing Potassium (section)

====Plasma levels====
Plasma potassium is normally kept at 3.5 to 5.5 millimoles (mmol) [or milliequivalents (mEq)] per liter by multiple mechanisms.<ref name="Wei Gritter Vogt de Borst 2020 pp. 952–968">{{cite journal | last1=Wei | first1=Kuang-Yu | last2=Gritter | first2=Martin | last3=Vogt | first3=Liffert | last4=de Borst | first4=Martin H | last5=Rotmans | first5=Joris I | last6=Hoorn | first6=Ewout J | title=Dietary potassium and the kidney: lifesaving physiology | journal=Clinical Kidney Journal | publisher=Oxford University Press (OUP) | volume=13 | issue=6 | date=2020-09-02 | issn=2048-8513 | pmid=33391739 | pmc=7769543 | doi=10.1093/ckj/sfaa157 | pages=952–968}}</ref> Levels outside this range are associated with an increasing rate of death from multiple causes,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Goyal | first1 = Abhinav | last2 = Spertus | first2 = John A. | last3 = Gosch | first3 = Kensey | last4 = Venkitachalam | first4 = Lakshmi | last5 = Jones | first5 = Philip G. | last6 = Van den Berghe | first6 = Greet | last7 = Kosiborod | first7 = Mikhail | year = 2012 | title = Serum Potassium Levels and Mortality in Acute Myocardial Infarction | journal = JAMA | volume = 307 | issue = 2| pages = 157–164 | doi = 10.1001/jama.2011.1967 | pmid = 22235086 | doi-access = free }}</ref> and some cardiac, kidney,<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Smyth | first1 = A. | last2 = Dunkler | first2 = D. | last3 = Gao | first3 = P. | display-authors = etal | year = 2014 | title = The relationship between estimated sodium and potassium excretion and subsequent renal outcomes | journal = Kidney Int | volume = 86 | issue = 6| pages = 1205–1212 | doi=10.1038/ki.2014.214| pmid = 24918156 | doi-access = free }}</ref> and lung diseases progress more rapidly if serum potassium levels are not maintained within the normal range.

An average meal of 40–50{{nbsp}}mmol presents the body with more potassium than is present in all plasma (20–25{{nbsp}}mmol). This surge causes the plasma potassium to rise up to 10% before clearance by renal and extrarenal mechanisms.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Moore-Ede | first1 = M. C. | year = 1986 | title = Physiology of the circadian timing system: predictive versus reactive homeostasis | journal = Am J Physiol | volume = 250 | issue = 5 Pt 2| pages = R737–R752 | doi = 10.1152/ajpregu.1986.250.5.R737 | pmid = 3706563 }}</ref>

[[Hypokalemia]], a deficiency of potassium in the plasma, can be fatal if severe. Common causes are increased gastrointestinal loss ([[vomiting]], [[diarrhea]]), and increased renal loss ([[polyuria|diuresis]]).<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Lippincott Williams & Wilkins|chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_XavFllbnS0C&pg=PA812|page = 812| chapter = Potassium|title = Pediatric critical care medicine|isbn = 978-0-7817-9469-5|last1 = Slonim|first1= Anthony D.|last2 = Pollack|first2= Murray M.|date = 2006}}</ref> Deficiency symptoms include muscle weakness, [[paralytic ileus]], ECG abnormalities, decreased reflex response; and in severe cases, respiratory paralysis, [[alkalosis]], and [[cardiac arrhythmia]].<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=c4xAdJhIi6oC&pg=PT257 |page =257|chapter = hypokalemia |title = Essentials of Nephrology|edition=2nd|publisher=BI Publications |isbn = 978-81-7225-323-3 |last1 = Visveswaran |first1= Kasi |date = 2009}}</ref>