# Diffusion through nanopores in connected lipid bilayer networks

## TL;DR

This study presents a biomimetic model to investigate passive molecular transport through ion channels in lipid bilayer networks, revealing how pore concentration influences diffusion dynamics and cluster formation.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental setup and a continuous time random walk model to connect microscopic pore properties with macroscopic diffusion behavior.

## Key findings

- Diffusion time varies non-linearly with pore concentration.
- Pore cluster size increases with concentration.
- Model accurately predicts diffusion based on pore characteristics.

## Abstract

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.