Models for the Study of Whole-Body Glucose Kinetics: A Mathematical Synthesis

Abstract

The maintenance of blood glucose homeostasis is complex and involves several key tissues. Most of these tissues are not easily accessible, making direct measurement of the physiological parameters involved in glucose metabolism difficult. The use of isotope tracer methodology and mathematical modeling allows indirect estimates of in vivo glucose metabolism through relatively noninvasive means. The purpose of this paper was to provide a mathematical synthesis of the models developed for describing glucose kinetics. As many of the models were developed using dogs, example data from the canine literature are presented. However, examples from the human and feline literature are also given in the absence of dog data. The glucose system is considered in both the steady and nonsteady states, and the models are examined by grouping them into schemes consisting of one, two, and three glucose compartments. Noncompartmental schemes are also considered briefly.