Dispersion and data enhancement in perifusion systems
by
Paul Shorten
AgResearch, Ruakura Research Centre, Hamilton, New Zealand
Coauthors: David Wall (Department of Mathematics, University of Canterbury, Christchurch)

The perifusion apparatus is an experimental tool used to model information transfer in endocrine systems. In this system, a liquid medium is pumped through a pipe over cells, which release a hormone in response to a hormone in the flowing medium. The temporal concentration profile of this released hormone is then measured at some downstream location. The major drawback of the perifusion system derives from the dispersion, diffusion and mixing of the hormone within the apparatus, generating a distortion in the experimentally observed hormone concentration profile. A model of the perifusion system is developed that accounts for a number of observable features in the measured secretory profile. We also consider associated inverse problems which enhance perifusion data measurements and unmask the underlying secretory events.

Date received: September 27, 2000

Copyright © 2000 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # caek-28.