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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Apr 1.
Published in final edited form as: Ann Biomed Eng. 2011 Jan 4;39(4):1278–1295. doi: 10.1007/s10439-010-0220-2

FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 1

Two-compartment pharmacokinetic model. A drug is infused into the blood stream at a constant rate ϕ0. The drug has concentration X1 in compartment 1, which represents the blood with volume V1, is excreted by a first-order process with rate constant ke, and is transported to compartment 2 with a rate constant k1. The drug has concentration X2 in compartment 2, which represents the target organ with volume V2, is metabolized by a first-order process with rate constant km, and is transported to compartment 1 with a rate constant k2. The relative sizes of the compartments is given by ρ = V2/V1.