Publications [#346390] of Anita T. Layton

Papers Published

1. Layton, AT, Tracking the Distribution of a Solute Bolus in the Rat Kidney, vol. 8 (January, 2017), pp. 115-136 [doi]
   (last updated on 2020/07/05)

   Abstract:
   © 2017, The Author(s) and the Association for Women in Mathematics. The goal of this study is to develop a detailed mathematical model that tracks filtered solutes in the rat kidney. A better understanding of intra-renal solute distribution, and its cycling by way of countercurrent exchange and preferential tubular interactions, may yield new insights into fundamental principles of concentrating mechanism function. This is a complex problem, however, in part because of the marked heterogeneity exhibited in the transport properties of different nephron segments, and in the organization of tubules and vessels in the renal medulla, which likely gives rise to preferential interactions among neighboring tubules and vessels. The present model represents renal tubules in both the cortex and the medulla, the medullary vasculature, and their spatial relationship. By simulating the fate a marked bolus, we obtain the distribution of that solute as a function of time. In addition, we characterize the residence time of a solute by computing the portion of that solute remaining in the model kidney as a function of time. Model simulations of an anti-diuretic rat kidney predict that, owing to the different tubular transport properties to NaCl and urea, and to the more effective urea cycling mechanism in the inner medulla, the residence time of urea is substantially longer than that of NaCl. Simulation results also suggest that urea cycling is disrupted in the diuretic state, resulting in a significantly shorter residence time for urea.