The present invention relates to a computer-based method of predicting bile flow through a lobule of a mammalian liver, said method comprising: (a) dividing the axis connecting the central vein and a portal vein of said lobule into a central zone, a middle zone and a portal zone, preferably based on the positions of said central vein and said portal vein as determined from microscopic images; (b) measuring experimentally secretion of bile by hepatocytes; (c) calculating the transport rate of said bile of (b) through each of the zones defined in (a), preferably using ordinary differential equations; (d) providing a three-dimensional representation of the bile canaliculi in said lobule; (e) calculating a first correction factor as the ratio between hydraulic radius and geometric radius of said bile canaliculi; and (f) calculating bile transport through (f-i) said three-dimensional representation of (d) using the transport rates determined in step (c) and said first correction factor calculated in step (e), preferably by solving the Navier-Stokes equations for said three-dimensional representation of (d); or (f-ii) a three-dimensional porous medium model of said liver lobule using the transport rates determined in step (c); thereby predicting said bile flow.