Peritoneal dialysis (PD) is dependent on the transport of water and solutes from the blood capillaries within the tissues that surround the peritoneal cavity. Because of their large blood supply and surface area, the viscera have been considered the most important tissues for PD transport. In animals, however, removal of the gastrointestinal tract decreases PD small-solute mass transfer by only 10 to 27%. To investigate the theoretical basis for these observations, a distributed model of peritoneal transport was extended to take into account the transport characteristics of four tissue groups that surround the cavity: the liver, the hollow viscera, the abdominal wall, and the diaphragm. The mass transfer-area coefficient (MTAC) of sucrose for each tissue was calculated from the following: MTAC = ([D(pa)]0.5)A, where D is the effective solute interstitial diffusivity, pa is the solute transcapillary permeability-area per unit tissue volume, and A is the apparent peritoneal surface area of the tissue. Our results for the adult human predict that the MTAC for the liver is comparable to that of all of the other viscera and makes up 43% of the total MTAC for the peritoneal cavity. The predicted MTAC is 4 cm3/min (plasma) or 6 cm3/min (blood), in good agreement with published values. It is concluded that the liver is responsible for a major portion of the small-solute MTAC. This also explains the earlier observations in eviscerated animals whose PD transport was likely preserved by intact livers.