Electrodiffusion Mediated Maintenance of the Gastric Mucus Layer
Event Description:
Abstract:
Diffusion of charged particles, or electrodiffusion, plays an important role in many physiological systems including the human stomach. The gastric mucus layer is widely recognized to serve a protective function, shielding your stomach wall from the extreme acidity and digestive enzymes present in the stomach. However, there is still much debate regarding the control of electrodiffusive transport through the mucus layer. In this talk, I will discuss a mathematical description of electrodiffusion within a two-phase gel model of gastric mucus and the challenges associated with its analysis and numerical simulation. This model is used to investigate physiological hypotheses regarding gastric layer maintenance that are beyond current experimental techniques.