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Related Concept Videos

Protein Diffusion in the Membrane01:24

Protein Diffusion in the Membrane

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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...
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Passive Diffusion: Overview and Kinetics01:17

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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...
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Diffusion01:12

Diffusion

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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...
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Diffusion01:21

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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...
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Drug Absorption Mechanism: Passive Membrane Transport01:23

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Passive transport is a method of drug absorption where small, lipid-soluble drugs can move across the cell membrane. This movement happens along the concentration gradient, which is a natural flow from higher to lower concentration areas. The speed at which the drug moves is directly related to its lipid–water partition coefficient. This means that the more a drug dissolves in lipids, the faster it diffuses or spreads throughout the body. It is important to note that most drugs are either...
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Diffusion on Chromatography Columns01:07

Diffusion on Chromatography Columns

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In column chromatography, when an analyte is introduced as a narrow band at the top of the column, the solutes begin to separate and broaden, developing a Gaussian profile. This broadening occurs due to various factors, such as longitudinal diffusion.
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The Diffusion of Passive Tracers in Laminar Shear Flow
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Back diffusion from thin low permeability zones.

Minjune Yang1, Michael D Annable, James W Jawitz

  • 1Soil and Water Science Department, University of Florida , Gainesville, Florida 32611, United States.

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PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Aquitards can release contaminants into aquifers over long periods. This study developed analytical and experimental methods to understand solute diffusion in thin aquitards, revealing long-term back diffusion risks for high-retardation solutes.

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Area of Science:

  • Hydrogeology
  • Environmental Science
  • Geochemistry

Background:

  • Aquitards act as long-term contaminant sources to aquifers through diffusion.
  • Understanding solute transport in aquitards is crucial for managing groundwater contamination.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop and validate analytical and experimental approaches for solute transport in thin aquitards.
  • To quantify diffusion and back diffusion of solutes in clay layers.
  • To assess the long-term contaminant release risk from aquitards.

Main Methods:

  • Laboratory experiments using a two-dimensional flow chamber with kaolinite clay layers.
  • In situ measurement of solute concentration distributions using light reflection visualization.
  • Development of one-dimensional analytical solutions for diffusion in finite aquitards using the method of images.

Main Results:

  • Analytical solutions showed excellent agreement with experimental breakthrough curves and concentration data.
  • Low-retardation solutes penetrated deeper, while high-retardation solutes posed a greater long-term back diffusion risk.
  • The accuracy of semi-infinite domain solutions decreases with increasing relative diffusion length scale.

Conclusions:

  • The developed analytical solutions accurately model solute diffusion in finite aquitards.
  • High-retardation solutes present a significant long-term back diffusion risk from aquitards.
  • The findings are applicable to multilayer systems and inform strategies for assessing groundwater contamination risks.