Simulation of glucose regulating mechanism with an agent-based software engineering tool

Sevcan Emek; Vedat Evren; Şebnem Bora

doi:10.11121/ijocta.01.2019.00685

Authors

Sevcan Emek Manisa Celal Bayar University http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2207-8418
Vedat Evren http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0274-0427
Şebnem Bora http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0111-4635

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11121/ijocta.01.2019.00685

Keywords:

Agent, agent-based modeling and simulation, homeostasis, negative feedback control, blood glucose levels

Abstract

This study provides a detailed explanation of a regulating mechanism of the blood glucose levels by an agent-based software engineering tool. Repast Simphony which is used in implementation of this study is an agent-based software engineering tool based on the object-oriented programming using Java language. Agent-based modeling and simulation is a computational methodology for simulating and exploring phenomena that includes a large set of active components represented by agents. The agents are main components situated in space and time of agent-based simulation environment. In this study, we present hormonal regulation of blood glucose levels by our improved agent-based control mechanism. Hormonal regulation of blood glucose levels is an important process to maintain homeostasis inside the human body. We offer a negative feedback control mechanism with agent-based modeling approach to regulate the secretion of insulin hormone which is responsible for increasing the blood glucose levels. The negative feedback control mechanism run by three main agents that interact with each other to perform their local actions in the simulation environment. The result of this study shows the local behavior of the agents in the negative feedback loop and illustrates how to balance the blood glucose levels. Finally, this study which is thought a potential implementation of agent-based modeling and simulation may contribute to the exploration of other homeostatic control systems inside the human body.

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