Flow analysis in a biological system adopting the buffer capacitor concept

Abstract

The flow measurement of each component in each compartment is important in works on transport phenomena in a biological system. The method of flow measurement was studied adopting the capacitor concept derived from network thermodynamics. A biologically active component i in a compartment is defined as follows, n i=n 1+n 2=c 1V+c 2V where the total quantity ni consists of a measurable form n i (free form, conc. c 1) and concealed form n 2 (conc, c 2). Capacitor for the species i of a compartment is defined as follows, C= dn i dμ i = 1+ c 2 c 1 c 1 dV dμ i + 1+ dc 2 dc 1 v dc 1 dμ i , =Ac 1 dV dμ i +BV dc 1 dt Thus flow of each component is expressed as, J i= dn i d i = dn i dμ i dμn i dt =C dμ i dt , =Ac 1 dV dt +BV dc 1 dt Method of determination of capacitor coefficients A and B by titration experiment was also considered. For an experimental case, the capacitance for H + of blood compartment was determined. The relationship between the capacitor concept and the buffer value of Van Slyke was discussed.