Jm. Mahaffy et al., HEMATOPOIETIC MODEL WITH MOVING BOUNDARY-CONDITION AND STATE-DEPENDENT DELAY - APPLICATIONS IN ERYTHROPOIESIS, Journal of theoretical biology, 190(2), 1998, pp. 135-146
An age-structured model for erythropoiesis is extended to include the
active destruction of the oldest mature cells and possible control by
apoptosis. The former condition, which is applicable to other populati
on models where the predator satiates, becomes a constant flux boundar
y condition and results in a moving boundary condition. The method of
characteristics reduces the age-structured model to a system of thresh
old type differential delay equations. Under certain assumptions, this
model can be reduced to a system of delay differential equations with
a state dependent delay in an uncoupled differential equation for the
moving boundary condition. Analysis of the characteristic equation fo
r the linearized model demonstrates the existence of a Hopf bifurcatio
n when the destruction rate of erythrocytes is modified. The parameter
s in the system are estimated from experimental data, and the model is
simulated for a normal human subject following a loss of blood typica
l of a blood donation. Numerical studies for a rabbit with an induced
auto-immune hemolytic anemia are performed and compared with experimen
tal data. (C) 1998 Academic Press Limited.