Mathematical Models of Metabolism: Towards a Whole-Body Metabolic Model

Abstract

Metabolism is a fundamental part of cell physiology. It provides the energy, building blocks, and reducing power that are essential to cellular viability. To date we have a thorough understanding of the metabolic networks of certain human cell types. Despite this we are unable to adequately determine the metabolic fluxes on these networks, and less so on a whole-body level. An source of difficulty in these calculations originates from organ and tissue compartmentalization. Namely, metabolic reactions and metabolites are isolated to a subset of organs and tissues. However, due to the circulation of biofluids, and consequently metabolites, there is nontrivial metabolite exchange between organs. Here we present organ-specific models of metabolism in an attempt to address these issues.