Mathematical Modeling of Transport and Degradation of Feedstuffs in the Small Intestine

Masoomeh Taghipoor (1, 2, 3) , Philippe Lescoat (2) , Christine Georgelin (1, 3) , Jean-René Licois (1, 3) , Guy Barles (1, 3)

1 LMPT - Laboratoire de Mathématiques et Physique Théorique
2 URA - Unité de Recherches Avicoles
3 FDP - Fédération de recherche Denis Poisson

We describe a mathematical modeling of the digestion in the small intestine. The main interest of our work is to consider, at the same time, different aspects of the digestion i.e. the transport of the bolus all along the intestine, feedstuffs degradation according to the enzymes and local physical conditions, and nutrients absorption. A system of coupled ordinary differential equations is used to model these phenomena. The major unknowns of this system are the position of the bolus and its composition. This system of equations is solved numerically. We present different numerical computations for the degradation, absorption and transport of the bolus with acceptable accuracy with experimental data. The main feature and interest of this model are its generality. Even if we are at an early stage of development, our approach can be adapted to treat any kind of feedstuffs in any non-ruminant animal to predict the composition and velocity of bolus in the small intestine.

Mots clés: Digestion; Small Intestine; Modeling; Ordinary Differential Equations; Enzymatic Degradation; Transport

Domaines: Systèmes dynamiques [math.DS]; Alimentation et Nutrition

Masoomeh Taghipoor, Philippe Lescoat, Christine Georgelin, Jean-René Licois, Guy Barles. Mathematical Modeling of Transport and Degradation of Feedstuffs in the Small Intestine. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 2012, 294, pp.Journal of Theoretical Biology 294 (2012) 114-121. ⟨10.1016/j.jtbi.2011.10.024⟩. ⟨hal-00555287v2⟩