A distributed model of peritoneal-plasma transport: tissue concentration gradients

Peritoneal dialysis transport studies were carried out in anesthetized rats. Injections of [14C]EDTA were made by intravenous bolus or intraperitoneal dialysis solution, and blood and peritoneal fluid samples were collected for 1 h. After death and rapid freezing of the animal, transverse sections through the abdominal cavity were cut for quantitative macroautoradiography. The plasma-to-peritoneal transport experiments with a clinical dialysis solution resulted in essentially horizontal concentration profiles versus distance in all tissues except large intestine. Estimates of the extracellular tissue fraction were: small intestine, 0.34; large intestine, 0.28; stomach, 0.30; uterus, 0.66; liver 0.35; diaphragm, 0.16; and anterior abdominal wall, 0.15. Similar experiments with an isotonic salt solution resulted in larger (13-300%) extracellular fractions in all tissues. In contrast, peritoneal-to-plasma transport studies demonstrated decreasing concentration profiles in all visceral tissues, with the first 90% of the gradient contained in the initial 400 micron of tissue from the peritoneum. Parietal tissue gradients were less steep and had higher concentration levels deep within the tissue than visceral tissues. Computer simulations using a distributed model approach compared favorably with the experimental measurements and established the validity of this approach.