A parameter identification problem arising from a model of canalicular bile formation

We develop a simple mathematical model for bile formation and analyze some features of the model that suggest the design for future physiological experiments. The mathematical model results in a boundary value problem for a system of functional differential equations depending on several physical parameters. From the observability of the boundary values we can identify, both qualitatively and quantitatively, some of these physical parameters. This identification then suggests physical experiments from which one could infer some of the bile transport phenomena that are not, at present, directly observable. The mathematical parameter identification problem is solved by converting the boundary value problem to a transition time problem for a quadratic system of ordinary differential equations on the plane where we are able to employ some special properties of quadratic systems in order to obtain a solution.The author was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation under the grants AF-AFOSR-89-0078 and DMS-9022621The author was supported by National Institutes of Health under grant number R37 DK-27623