What Is the difference between Lactic acid and Lactate?
Often you will hear the term lactate and lactic acid used interchangeably, and although it often doesn’t change the meaning of what is being discussed, technically they are different.
To understand the difference you have to look at the chemistry. An acid is a substance that is able to donate hydrogen ions (H+). Lactic acid is such a substance. When it donates a hydrogen ion the resultant product is referred to as the conjugate base of the acid and in this case is Lactate.
C3H6O3 
C3H5O3 – + H+
Lactic Acid Lactate Hydrogen Ion
Under physiological conditions (the environment within the human body), most of the lactate will be dissociated thus strictly speaking will be in the form of lactate. In general however you could refer to it as lactic acid or lactate and people would understand what you were referring to.
Lactate is simply the conjugate base of Lactic acid
Credits Lactic Acid
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