A carbon monoxide transport model of the human respiratory system applied to urban atmosphere exposure analysis

Abstract

The aim of this work is to analyze the carbon monoxide (CO) transport in the human body submitted to several physical activity levels. A complete mathematical model of the human respiratory system was developed, considering the exchanges of CO, oxygen (O2) and carbon dioxide (CO2) in the lung, blood and tissues. The human body was divided in the following compartments: alveolar, pulmonary capillaries, arterial, venous, tissue capillary and tissues. The gas transport in the blood and tissues is represented by empirical equations. The physiological parameters were described in function of physical activity. The model was validated by comparing its results with experimental data of controlled CO exposition. The agreement was excellent. CO concentration curves for critical days of São Caetano do Sul city (SP, Brazil) atmosphere were used as model input. The simulation results for some physical activities show that the more intense the activity, the larger the blood carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) level variations. The COHb level was compared with a CO quality air criteria, which showed to be adequate for low and moderate physical activity levels. Copyright © 2008 by ABCM.