Agent-based modelling of glucose transport

A constant supply of glucose is vital for life. Excessive and insufficient amounts can be detrimental to the health of the cell and leads to a variety of complications in the long run. However, due to the polarized nature of glucose molecules, a family of glucose transporters are required for transport across the cell’s plasma membrane. In this paper, the glucose transporter protein GLUT1 is studied using two modelling methods: a simple system of differential equations and an object oriented agent-based model. The latter approach incorporates elements of biology and communication between components into the system, yet remains relatively easy to implement. Furthermore, it yields results which are in agreement with both experimental observations and the qualitative observations of more complex mathematical models of other glucose transporters. Keywords: ordinary differential equations, pi calculus, SPiM, glucose transport, GLUT1, stochastic processes, agent-based modelling.