Ghrelin is a quite powerful hormone discovered in the end of the 1990s that controls appetite and energy homeostasis, alongside leptin and other hormones still to be investigated in depth by the medical sciences literature.
On this poster we provide a simple mathematical model, consisting of a set of ordinary differential equations detailing ghrelin dynamics combined to stomach and duodenum stretch variations due to meals. Numerical simulations are able to replicate in silico data available from the literature.
We explain the model and set the new avenues, bearing in mind the model is part of a bigger project whose aim is making sense of glucose control from a “network” (integrative) perspective, “a web of hormones.”
The main drive of this endeavor is suggesting a primary mathematical model for ghrelin dynamics. And, as a result, the problematic is that no single attempt to gather together several hormones in a single depiction seems to be existent (or important enough).
Bearing in mind the model is the first attempt and several challenges still must be tackled, we shall use the second part of the poster for discussing these problematics and how we intend to solve them.
Finally, our model is what can be called “white box,” i.e. mechanism-based model, which means that for us it is chased a model which is physiologically reasonable rather than just replicating experimental results. All the results provided are in silico, in vivo and in vitro results are taken from the literature.
See poster.
