title: The pressure and flow distribution within a filtering capillary network.
abstract: A model is developed to estimate the parameters controlling glomerular function by network analysis. The topological and dimensional parameters are obtained by reconstructing a Wistar rat glomerulus. The model allows the calculation of blood and plasma flow distribution between the glomerular branches, their contribution to filtration and the drop of intracapillary hydrostatic pressure along the network. The program adjusts the blood flow distribution and the red cells partition at divergent nodes, the afferent intracapillary hydrostatic pressure and the hydrodynamic conductance of the glomerular wall in order to satisfy the following conditions. The intracapillary pressures at a convergent node must be the same whatever pathway is followed to reach that node; the mean integrated intracapillary hydrostatic pressure and the single nephron glomerular filtration rate must equal their experimental value. Convergence is obtained applying the Newton-Raphson method.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D001809:Blood Viscosity; D002196:Capillaries / Q000502:physiology*; D003201:Computers; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000502:physiology; D005919:Glomerular Filtration Rate; D006874:Hydrostatic Pressure; D007678:Kidney Glomerulus / Q000098:blood supply / Q000502:physiology*; D008433:Mathematics; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains