A theoretical prediction of the normal cardiac oxygen consumption.

A model is described from which the entropy production associated with the process of transporting oxygen and carbon dioxide between the lungs and the muscles of the body can be calculated. The two entropy sources which are assumed to be the dominant ones for this process are the entropy production associated with the metabolism of the heart and the entropy production associated with the diffusion of oxygen and carbon dioxide into and out of the blood. The hypothesis that the observed blood flow is the one for which a given amount of oxygen and carbon dioxide is transported between the lungs and the muscles with minimum total entropy production is used to predict the value of the slope of the cardiac oxygen consumption vs. blood flow curve. At a blood flow of 15 liters/min, the predicted value of the slope of this curve is 1.2 ml/liter.