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Related Concept Videos

Protein Diffusion in the Membrane01:24

Protein Diffusion in the Membrane

Proteins show rotational as well as lateral diffusion across the membrane. The lateral diffusion of proteins was confirmed through the cell fusion experiment where mouse and human cells were fused, resulting in hybrid cells. When the human and mouse cells fused, the specific membrane proteins on human and mouse cells were marked with the red and green-fluorescent markers, respectively. Initially, the red and green fluorescence was located on the respective hemisphere of the cell. As time...
Diffusion01:12

Diffusion

Diffusion is the passive movement of substances down their concentration gradients—requiring no expenditure of cellular energy. Substances, such as molecules or ions, diffuse from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration in the cytosol or across membranes. Eventually, the concentration will even out, with the substance moving randomly but causing no net change in concentration. Such a state is called dynamic equilibrium, which is essential for maintaining overall...
Diffusion01:21

Diffusion

Diffusion is a type of passive transport. In passive transport, a substance tends to move from an area of high concentration to an area of low concentration until the concentration is equal across the space. For example, take the diffusion of substances through the air. When someone opens a perfume bottle in a room filled with people, the perfume is at its highest concentration in the bottle and is at its lowest at the edges of the room. The perfume vapor will diffuse, or spread away, from the...
Passive Diffusion: Overview and Kinetics01:17

Passive Diffusion: Overview and Kinetics

Passive diffusion is a critical process that allows small lipophilic drugs to cross the cell membrane along a concentration gradient. This mechanism's efficiency depends on four primary factors: the membrane's surface area, the drug's lipid-water partition coefficient, the concentration gradient, and the membrane's thickness.
When administered orally, drugs establish a substantial concentration gradient between the gastrointestinal (GI) lumen and the bloodstream, expediting their diffusion into...
Behavior of Gas Molecules: Molecular Diffusion, Mean Free Path, and Effusion03:48

Behavior of Gas Molecules: Molecular Diffusion, Mean Free Path, and Effusion

Although gaseous molecules travel at tremendous speeds (hundreds of meters per second), they collide with other gaseous molecules and travel in many different directions before reaching the desired target. At room temperature, a gaseous molecule will experience billions of collisions per second. The mean free path is the average distance a molecule travels between collisions. The mean free path increases with decreasing pressure; in general, the mean free path for a gaseous molecule will be...
Facilitated Diffusion01:16

Facilitated Diffusion

The plasma membrane, a critical structure in cellular biology, houses an array of transporters, or carrier proteins, interspersed within its lipid bilayer. These proteins play a crucial role in solute transport through facilitated diffusion, a form of passive diffusion that uses transporters to move the molecules across the membrane.
In this process, substrates such as organic compounds and ions interact with a transporter on one side, triggering conformational changes in proteins that enable...

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Single-Molecule Tracking Microscopy - A Tool for Determining the Diffusive States of Cytosolic Molecules
10:20

Single-Molecule Tracking Microscopy - A Tool for Determining the Diffusive States of Cytosolic Molecules

Published on: September 5, 2019

Single macromolecule diffusion in confined environments.

Matthew Mears1, Drew S Tarmey, Mark Geoghegan

  • 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, Sheffield, UK.

Macromolecular Rapid Communications
|July 14, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Single molecule behavior in confined environments is explored, covering biological processes and artificial diffusion systems. Advances in detection reveal insights beyond average measurements, highlighting new physics in controlled diffusion.

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Mapping Molecular Diffusion in the Plasma Membrane by Multiple-Target Tracing (MTT)
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Mapping Molecular Diffusion in the Plasma Membrane by Multiple-Target Tracing (MTT)

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Last Updated: May 31, 2026

Single-Molecule Tracking Microscopy - A Tool for Determining the Diffusive States of Cytosolic Molecules
10:20

Single-Molecule Tracking Microscopy - A Tool for Determining the Diffusive States of Cytosolic Molecules

Published on: September 5, 2019

Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level
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Synthesis of Cyclic Polymers and Characterization of Their Diffusive Motion in the Melt State at the Single Molecule Level

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Mapping Molecular Diffusion in the Plasma Membrane by Multiple-Target Tracing (MTT)
12:19

Mapping Molecular Diffusion in the Plasma Membrane by Multiple-Target Tracing (MTT)

Published on: May 27, 2012

Area of Science:

  • Physics, Chemistry, Biology

Background:

  • Single molecule detection techniques have advanced significantly.
  • Understanding single molecule behavior is crucial in biology and materials science.
  • Average behavior measurements can obscure critical details.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review the behavior of single molecules on surfaces and in confined environments.
  • To highlight advances in single molecule detection and artificial diffusion systems.
  • To discuss the new physics revealed by controlled diffusion phenomena.

Main Methods:

  • Review of single molecule detection techniques.
  • Analysis of biological single molecule processes (e.g., enzyme production, intracellular diffusion).
  • Examination of artificial systems for controlled diffusion.

Main Results:

  • Single molecule techniques provide information unobtainable through average measurements.
  • Localized enzyme production and intracellular diffusion are key biological examples.
  • Artificial diffusion systems, though nascent, reveal novel physical principles.

Conclusions:

  • Single molecule studies offer unique insights into complex systems.
  • Controlled diffusion is an emerging area with significant physical implications.
  • Further research into artificial systems can advance our understanding of diffusion physics.