TABLE 6.

Key viewpoints selected in physiology and cancer biology support possible discrepancies in intracellular pH between healthy and oncological cells.

FPV	Characteristics
Altered Energy Metabolism in Tumor Cells (Bader et al., 2020; Dey et al., 2021; Yang et al., 2023)	Cancer cells frequently show the Warburg effect, preferring anaerobic glycolysis for energy, even with available O₂, leading to lactic acid production and a possibly acidic extracellular environment. Despite this, they keep an alkaline intracellular pH, suggesting they have more robust pH regulation mechanisms than healthy cells
Adaptations for Survival and Proliferation (Boedtkjer and Pedersen, 2020; Wang et al., 2020; Li et al., 2021)	Maintaining an alkaline intracellular environment can promote cancer cell survival and proliferation under stressful conditions. This enhances enzyme activity for metabolism and DNA synthesis and offers resistance to certain cell death types
Tumor Heterogeneity (Kudelova et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2022; Chhabra and Weeraratna, 2023).	Tumors display remarkable heterogeneity in cell types and microenvironments, affecting O₂ and nutrient availability. This leads to varied cellular metabolism and pH regulation across the tumor, indicating that pHi in tumor cells may fluctuate more than in uniform healthy tissues