multicompartiment

Multicompartiment is a concept used to describe systems that are divided into multiple interacting compartments. Each compartment can accumulate and exchange quantities such as molecules, energy, or signals, and the compartments are connected by transfer pathways that define how fast exchange occurs.

In pharmacokinetics, multicompartiment models describe how a drug distributes from the central circulation to peripheral tissues. Such models often use differential equations to represent transfer between compartments with rate constants. In cell biology and neuroscience, multicompartiment representations are used to model organelles within a cell or segments of a neuron, capturing spatially resolved processes with fewer equations than a full spatial model.

Mathematically, a multicompartiment system is typically formulated as a set of coupled ordinary differential equations expressing the rate of change of the quantity in each compartment as a function of the quantities in other compartments and the inter-compartment transfer rates. A two-compartment example includes a central and a peripheral compartment connected by rate constants k12 and k21; the resulting equations describe how an initial amount moves between compartments over time.

Parameter estimation and identifiability are common challenges, requiring time-series data and suitable estimation methods. Model selection balances explanatory power with data availability to avoid overfitting.

Limitations include simplifications about space, linearity, and static compartment structure. Despite limitations, multicompartiment models provide a tractable framework for analyzing distributed processes across many fields.