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Quantifying the impact of tissue metabolism on solute transport in feto-placental microvascular networks

Erlich, Alexander; A. Nye, Gareth; Brownbill, Paul; E. Jensen, Oliver; L. Chernyavsky, Igor

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Authors

Alexander Erlich

Paul Brownbill

Oliver E. Jensen

Igor L. Chernyavsky



Abstract

The primary exchange units in the human placenta are terminal villi, in which fetal capillary networks are surrounded by a thin layer of villous tissue, separating fetal from maternal blood. To understand how the complex spatial structure of villi influences their function, we use an image-based theoretical model to study the effect of tissue metabolism on the transport of solutes from maternal blood into the fetal circulation. For solute that is taken up under first-order kinetics, we show that the transition between flow-limited and diffusion-limited transport depends on two new dimensionless parameters defined in terms of key geometric quantities, with strong solute uptake promoting flow-limited transport conditions. We present a simple algebraic approximation for solute uptake rate as a function of flow conditions, metabolic rate and villous geometry. For oxygen, accounting for nonlinear kinetics using physiological parameter values, our model predicts that villous metabolism does not significantly impact oxygen transfer to fetal blood, although the partitioning of fluxes between the villous tissue and the capillary network depends strongly on the flow regime.

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date May 20, 2019
Online Publication Date Aug 16, 2019
Publication Date Oct 6, 2019
Deposit Date Jan 24, 2025
Publicly Available Date Jan 24, 2025
Journal Interface Focus
Electronic ISSN 2042-8901
Publisher The Royal Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 9
Issue 5
Article Number 20190021
DOI https://doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2019.0021

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