The bicarbonate buffering system is an important buffer system in the acid-base homeostasis of living things, including humans.

The body initially buffers the change with the bicarbonate buffering system, but this system is quickly overwhelmed and other mechanisms must work to compensate for the acidosis.

The Henderson-Hasselbalch equation can be applied to relate the pH of blood to constituents of the bicarbonate buffering system:

RPMI 1640 uses a bicarbonate buffering system and differs from most mammalian cell culture media in its typical pH 8 formulation.