Scaling relationships for translational diffusion constants applied to membrane domain dissolution and growth

Abstract

We compare the way that relationships for diffusion constants scale with the size of diffusing membrane domains and the geometry of their environments. Then, we review our experimental work on the dynamics of dissolution/growth of membrane domains in crowding induced mixing, phase separation, and Ostwald ripening in a highly confined environment. Overall, the scaling relationships applied to diffusion constants obtained by fits to our dynamic data indicate that dissolution and growth is influenced by the diffusion of clusters or small domains of lipids, in addition to kinetic processes and geometrical constraints.

Keywords: Confinement; Crowding; Diffusion; Membrane curvature; Membrane domain; Scale.