Affiliations: Medical Informatics and Biomedical Imaging (MIBI) Lab, Faculty of Medicine University of Thessaly, Biopolis Campus, Larissa, Greece
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Aristotle G. Koutsiaris, Medical Informatics and Biomedical Imaging (MIBI) Lab, Faculty of Medicine University of Thessaly, Biopolis Campus, Larissa, Greece. Tel.: +30 2410 685517; E-mail: ariskout@otenet.gr, akoutsiaris@uth.gr.
Abstract: In human and animal microvascular networks, the exchange microvessels are the capillaries and postcapillary venules where material transport between the circulating blood and tissue takes place. For small-size molecules, this material transport is done by the physical mechanism of diffusion through the endothelium wall and the diffusion rate J in relation to blood volume flow Q is described by the flow-diffusion (Q-J) equation. However, the volume flow is not easy to be measured in vivo. The objective of this work was to transform the classical flow-diffusion equation into a new form with axial velocity V as an independent variable instead of volume flow Q. The new form was called the velocity-diffusion (V-J) equation and has the advantage that V can be measured directly in vivo by optical imaging techniques. The V-J equation could have important applications in the calculation of the mass diffusion rate of various substances in vivo.
Keywords: Blood flow, in vivo, diffusion, mass rate, concentration, equation, velocity, exchange vessels, permeability, microvessels, capillaries, venules.
