We present a computer simulation of a two-compartment model of the systemic circulation which demonstrates how this model can be used to understand the mechanism(s) for the maximal exercise cardiac output (Q). The model consists of two parallel vascular channels, the splanchnic channel (all blood draining through the hepatic veins) and the peripheral channel (all other vascular beds). The distinguishing characteristic of each channel is the product of its venous compliance and venous resistance. Model parameters for the human circulation were estimated from similar parameters obtained directly from animal experiments. "Exercise" was achieved by decreasing the compliance of both channels to 40% of their initial value and by redistributing the Q such that the fraction of Q perfusing the splanchnic channel fell from 38 to 5%, while that perfusing the peripheral channel (skeletal muscles) increased from 62 to 95%. These combined changes increased Q from 4.4 to 22.0 l X min-1 and suggest that maximal adjustments of the two-compartment model parameters lead to a prediction of a maximal Q that approaches the maximal Q usually obtained by humans during exercise.
ABSTRACT: A significant fraction of rhodamine WT dye was lost during a short term multitracer injection experiment in a mountain stream environment. The conservative anion chloride and the sorbing cation lithium were concurrently injected. In‐stream rhodamine WT concentrations were as low as 45 percent of that expected, based on chloride data. Concentration data were available from shallow‘wells’dug near the stream course and from a seep of suspected return flow. Both rhodamine WT dye and lithium were nonconservative with respect to the conservative chloride, with rhodamine WT dye closely following the behavior of the sorbing lithium. Nonsorption and sorption mechanisms for rhodamine WT loss in a mountain stream were evaluated in laboratory experiments. Experiments evaluating nonsorption losses indicated minimal losses by such mechanisms. Laboratory experiments using sand and gravel size streambed sediments show an appreciable capacity for rhodamine WT sorption. The detection of tracers in the shallow wells and seep indicates interaction between the stream and the flow in the surrounding subsurface, intergravel water, system. The injected tracers had ample opportunity for intimate contact with materials shown in the laboratory experiments to be potentially sorptive. It is suggested that in the study stream system, interaction with streambed gravel was a significant mechanism for the attenuation of rhodamine WT dye (relative to chloride).
