A Mathematical Model Of The Chemical Distribution In A Disease State: Hypothyroidism

Date
1969-06
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Rand Corporation
Abstract
Description
A mathematical model of the fluid and electrolyte distribution in a standard laboratory dog was developed. It adequately predicted measured changes in distribution of various chemical substances following administration of saline and alkaline solutions; however, the measured changes due to acid addition were not as well predicated. A new fluid compartment was added to the standard dog model to simulate hypothyroidism as a result of a hypothesis of body chemistry changes in hypothyroid animals. Although most parameters of the new compartment were determined from the literature, some were chosen numerically to correlate most accurately the model prediction and the chemical data take on hypothyroid dogs following an alkaline chemical infusion. Both hypothyroid and euthyroid dogs received injections of acid solution to provide chemical data for comparing distributional changes in these groups and paring chemical distributional changes in these groups and for validation of the models simulation these states. The results proved statistically the hypothyroid dogs respond differently from normal ones to acid infusion. However, the hypothyroid model, like the normal mode, did not predict these experimental results well. Laboratory technological problems accounted for many of these discrepancies. The results of this research have suggested that additional experiments and other chemical perturbations are necessary to test the biochemical hypotheses formulated in this Memorandum. The ideas explored are applicable to studies of other disease states that exhibit gross fluid and electrolyte abnormalities.
Keywords
Mathematical Model, Chemical Distribution, Hypothyroidism
Citation