Flush model overview

Introduction

In the very beginning of the project, we focused on iron absorption by the duodenum. We first had to model the behaviour of the duodenum regarding iron absorption to determine if a flush treatment strategy was viable. Then we want to model the flush treatment by simulating a flush of iron-chelating bacteria.

Observations

We know that 60% of iron is absorbed in the duodenum and 40% in the jejunum. The duodenum is located in the upper intestines, right after the stomach, and is usually 300mm long.
A healthy person absorbs about 10% (2mg a day) of the daily iron uptake, while a hemochromatosic patient's absorption varies between 50% and 100% of the daily iron uptake^[1]. Once our genetically modified bacteria are released in the duodenum lumen, they produce siderophores to chelate the solved iron, thus making it unavailable for intestinal absorption. Then, they eventually flush out of the duodenum. The main hypothesis in this model is that the bacteria do not colonize the duodenum : they only flow through. They do not even have time to grow, for the time required to flush through is close to 40 seconds.
Because some of the parameters remain unknown, it is a theoretical simulation which will not give any numerical results, only qualitative results.