Elements for modeling inert gas washout from heterogeneous tissues.
Inert gas washout from tissue may be analyzed using Krogh's cylinder or a simplified model thereof, represented by a series arrangement of compartments. In particular with limited axial diffusion in tissue, washout from this model is multi-exponential, the rate of washout accelerating with time. To explain the experimentally observed multicomponent washout, in which washout retards with time, heterogeneity of flow and/or diffusing capacity to volume is required, either in series or in parallel compartments. While there appears to be a structural basis for both types of heterogeneity, parallel and series, a distinction between both on the basis of washout curves alone is impossible.
D000818:Animals; D004058:Diffusion; D007700:Kinetics; D008954:Models, Biological; D009132:Muscles / Q000098:blood supply / Q000378:metabolism; D005741:Noble Gases / Q000378:metabolism*; D010477:Perfusion; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D014018:Tissue Distribution
D005741:Noble Gases