Placental Glucose Transporter (GLUT1) Kinetics Simulator

Glucose is the fetus's principal fuel, and every molecule that reaches it must first cross the syncytiotrophoblast — the single continuous layer of maternal-facing placental cells that separates maternal and fetal blood. This simulator models the real mechanism of that crossing: facilitated diffusion through GLUT1 carrier proteins, following symmetric Michaelis-Menten kinetics rather than simple concentration-driven diffusion. Adjust maternal glucose concentration, GLUT1 transporter density and syncytiotrophoblast thickness and watch net flux, fetal glucose concentration and carrier saturation respond exactly as the underlying transport equation dictates — including the saturation ceiling that keeps fetal glucose delivery from scaling linearly with maternal hyperglycemia.