Fluid exchange from a microoccluded capillary with axial variation of filtration parameters 1

Abstract

A mathematical analysis is presented of transcapillary fluid exchange during microocclusion of a single capillary, wherein both the capillary filtration coefficient and the tissue hydrostatic and osmotic pressures are dependent upon the axial distance along the capillary. In this model, the plasma is assumed to comprise an incompressible viscous fluid with the protein being a dilute solute in the fluid; we neglect the presence of erythrocytes. A system of one dimensional, time dependent equations describes the motion of this fluid including the influences of both fluid filtration and solute transport. Within the context of this model, we interpret in vivo data from microvascular experiments on occluded capillaries and infer the relative merits of experimental methods to diagnose axial variations in capillary filtration parameters.