On the identification of Michaelis-Menten elimination parameters from a single dose-response curve.

This paper deals with aspects of the numerical identifiability of parameters of a model with a capacity-limited elimination rate using a single dose-response curve, namely, the prospects of being able to identify model parameters with any meaning from real data. The concept of linear bounds, first proposed by Tong and Metzler, is described and it is shown that if the Michaelis-Menten constant Km is greater than all the measured concentration values, approximation by a linear model is appropriate. At the other end of the scale, if Km is small compared with measured concentration values, the nonlinear response approximates to a zero-order curve.