A mathematical model of neutrophil production and control in normal man

Abstract

A comprehensive mathematical model of neutrophil production in normal man is presented. The model incorporates three control elements which regulate homeostatically the rates of release of marrow cells to proliferation, maturation, and to the blood. The steady state properties of the model are demonstrated analytically. The basic equations of the model, which are nonlinear, have been integrated numerically. The solutions so obtained display graphically the dynamical response of the system to various perturbations, which simulate experimental investigations that have been made in the past of granulocytopoiesis. By an appropriate choice of values of the parameters characterizing the system, it is shown how most of the principal kinetic properties of the neutrophil production and control system are represented in a quantitative manner.