Diffusion through nanopores in connected lipid bilayer networks

A biomimetic model of cell-cell communication was developed to probe the passive molecular transport across ion channels inserted in synthetic lipid bilayers formed between contacting droplets arranged in a linear array. Diffusion of a fluorescent probe across the array was measured for different po...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2019-02
Main Authors: Valet, Manon, Pontani, Léa-Laetitia, Voituriez, Raphaël, Wandersman, Elie, Prevost, Alexis M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomimetics
Clusters
Diffusion
Droplets
Fluorescent indicators
Ion channels
Lipids
Porosity
Random walk
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:A biomimetic model of cell-cell communication was developed to probe the passive molecular transport across ion channels inserted in synthetic lipid bilayers formed between contacting droplets arranged in a linear array. Diffusion of a fluorescent probe across the array was measured for different pore concentrations. The diffusion characteristic time scale is found to vary non-linearly with the pore concentration. Our measurements are successfully modeled by a continuous time random walk description, whose waiting time is the first exit time from a droplet through a cluster of pores. The size of the cluster of pores is found to increase with their concentration. Our results provide a direct link between the mesoscopic permeation properties and the microscopic characteristics of the pores such as their number, size and spatial arrangement.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.1902.04912