Some aspects of the anemia of chronic disorders modeled and analyzed by petri net based approach

Abstract

Anemia of chronic disorders is a very important phenomenon and iron is a crucial factor of this complex process. To better understand this process and its influence on some other factors we have built a mathematical model of the human body iron homeostasis, which possibly most exactly would reflect the metabolism of iron in the case of anemia and inflammation. The model has been formulated in the language of Petri net theory, which allows for its simulation and precise analysis. The obtained results of the analysis of the model's behavior, concerning the influence of anemia and inflammation on the transferrin receptors, and hepcidin concentration changes are the valuable complements to the knowledge following from clinical research. This analysis is one of the first attempts to investigate properties and behavior of a not fully understood biological system on a basis of its Petri net based model. © 2011 The Author(s).