Biophysical Journal 63: 607-615 (1992)
© 1992 the Biophysical Society

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Modulation of lateral transport of membrane components by spatial variations in diffusivity and solubility.

Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York 10029.

ABSTRACT

The effect of spatially varying diffusivity and solubility on the efficiency of intramembrane transport is investigated by obtaining solutions to the generalized lateral diffusion equation in which both the diffusion coefficient, D(r), and the partition coefficient, K(r), are functions of position. The mean-time-to-capture by a sink, tc, of particles diffusing in a plane is obtained analytically for the case of a sink surrounded by gradients in D(r) and K(r) with radially symmetrical geometry. It is shown that for particles originating at random locations, tc is shortened dramatically, if in an annular region around the sink, D and K are significantly greater than in the remainder of the plane. Similarly, a viscous boundary layer surrounding a sink is demonstrated to represent a significant barrier for diffusing particles. To investigate more complex geometries, a finite difference numerical integration method is used and is shown to provide comparable results for tc with modest computational power. The same method is used to calculate the tc for particles originating at a source that is joined to the sink by a channel. The increase in the rate with which particles travel from a source to a sink when they are joined by a high diffusivity and/or solubility channel is illustrated by several numerical examples and by graphical representations that show the equilibrium particle density (and hence the effective particle flow) in the presence of different sink, source, and channel combinations. These results are discussed in terms of fluidity domains and other membrane heterogeneities.