Graphical Analysis for the Study of Metabolic States.
Summers, R. L., L.H. Woodward, D.Y. Sanders, and J. E. Hall.
Dept. of Emergency Medicine and Dept. of Physiology and Biophysics,
University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS 39216-4505.
APStracts 2:0005S, 1995.
ABSTRACT
Graphical analyses have been used in the study of physiology as a means to
better understand dynamic processes and to visualize the mechanisms of their
interactions. A graphical analysis of glucose homeostasis was constructed by
considering the main factors which influence glucose dynamics. The analysis is
achieved by equating curves representing both the inflow and outflow of
glucose from the circulation as dependent upon the serum insulin
concentration. The point where these two curves intersect is the steady-state
balance for blood glucose exchange and is termed the equilibrium point.
Utilizing this graphical depiction of glucose homeostasis it is now possible
to study the influence of multiple factors on glucose dynamics. A variety of
metabolic states can also be analyzed by reconstructing the effects of the
pathophysiology on the form and shape of the curves. Some of the metabolic
states that have been analyzed by this technique include starvation, exercise,
obesity, type I and II diabetes mellitus, stress, hypopituitarism,
hyperpituitarism and hyperthyroidism. While the analyses do not reflect all
the controversial nuances of the field, they do provide a means for a general
approach to the study of glucose homeostasis and serve as a methodology that
can be extrapolated to many areas of physiological study.
Received 21 July 1995,; accepted in final form 7 February 1996.
APS Manuscript Number S0018-5.
Article publication pending Advances in Physiology Education.
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 20 March 96