Modeling principles for a physiology-based whole-body model of human metabolism

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive, scalable whole-body human metabolism model that captures physiological structures and flows, aiding drug development and personalized medicine.

Contribution

It provides a generalized, modular framework for modeling human physiology with detailed subcompartments and scalable parameters, enhancing simulation accuracy.

Findings

Model includes vascular, interstitial, and cellular compartments for each organ.

Scalable parameters enable population-specific investigations.

The model facilitates understanding of systemic metabolic processes.

Abstract

Physiological whole-body models are valuable tools for the development of novel drugs where understanding the system aspects is important. This paper presents a generalized model that encapsulates the structure and flow of whole-body human physiology. The model contains vascular, interstitial, and cellular subcompartments for each organ. Scaling of volumes and blood flows is described to allow for investigation across populations or specific patient groups. The model equations and the corresponding parameters are presented along with a catalog of functions that can be used to define the organ transport model and the biochemical reaction model. A simple example illustrates the procedure.