Fig. 1

Schematic drawing of circulation in which red blood cells and plasma is closed off from the glycocalyx layer while infused fluid penetrates easily. Albumin enters the glycocalyx slowly and finally leaks out to the interstitial fluid via endothelial clefts. The capillary leakage of fluid occurs much faster and, at any moment, is the product of the volume expansion of the plasma and the glycocalyx layer and the rate constant k₁₂. The so-called F-cell ratio might be due to the difference between red blood cells and plasma with regard to their access to the glycocalyx layer