title: A dynamical model of lipoprotein metabolism.
abstract: We present a dynamical model of lipoprotein metabolism derived by combining a cascading process in the blood stream and cellular level regulatory dynamics. We analyse the existence and stability of equilibria and show that this low-dimensional, nonlinear model exhibits bistability between a low and a high cholesterol state. A sensitivity analysis indicates that the intracellular concentration of cholesterol is robust to parametric variations while the plasma cholesterol can vary widely. We show how the dynamical response to time-dependent inputs can be used to diagnose the state of the system. We also establish the connection between parameters in the system and medical and genetic conditions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, South Kensington Campus, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: August
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Barahona
mesh_terms: D001692:Biological Transport; D006801:Humans; D006938:Hyperlipoproteinemia Type II / Q000378:metabolism; D008049:Lipase / Q000378:metabolism; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D013631:Tangier Disease / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008074:Lipoproteins; D008049:Lipase