A mathematical model of peritoneal fluid absorption in tissue.

To investigate how water flow and interstitial pressure change in tissue during a peritoneal dwell with isotonic fluid, we developed a mathematical model of water transport in the tissue. Transport through muscle alone (M) and through muscle with intact skin (MS) were considered for the rat abdominal wall, using various parameters for muscle and skin. Based on the concept of distributed capillary and lymphatic systems, two main transport barriers were taken into account. capillary membrane and interstitium. We calculated the tissue hydrostatic pressure profiles and compared them with experimental data. The theoretic steady-state pressure distribution for model M is in good agreement with the experimental data. In model MS, the theoretic distribution diverges from the data in the subcutaneous layer. The transient times for fluid flow in the tissue for both model simulations are rather long (40 minutes in model M and 95 minutes in model MS) and depend on intraperitoneal pressure. The fraction of fluid absorbed from the tissue by the lymphatics increases with time from 10% to 97% of fluid flow from the peritoneal cavity.