TY  - JOUR
A1  - Ghosh, Surya K.
A1  - Cherstvy, Andrey G.
A1  - Grebenkov, Denis S.
A1  - Metzler, Ralf
T1  - Anomalous, non-Gaussian tracer diffusion in crowded two-dimensional environments
JF  - NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS
N2  - A topic of intense current investigation pursues the question of how the highly crowded environment of biological cells affects the dynamic properties of passively diffusing particles. Motivated by recent experiments we report results of extensive simulations of the motion of a finite sized tracer particle in a heterogeneously crowded environment made up of quenched distributions of monodisperse crowders of varying sizes in finite circular two-dimensional domains. For given spatial distributions of monodisperse crowders we demonstrate how anomalous diffusion with strongly non-Gaussian features arises in this model system. We investigate both biologically relevant situations of particles released either at the surface of an inner domain or at the outer boundary, exhibiting distinctly different features of the observed anomalous diffusion for heterogeneous distributions of crowders. Specifically we reveal an asymmetric spreading of tracers even at moderate crowding. In addition to the mean squared displacement (MSD) and local diffusion exponent we investigate the magnitude and the amplitude scatter of the time averaged MSD of individual tracer trajectories, the non-Gaussianity parameter, and the van Hove correlation function. We also quantify how the average tracer diffusivity varies with the position in the domain with a heterogeneous radial distribution of crowders and examine the behaviour of the survival probability and the dynamics of the tracer survival probability. Inter alia, the systems we investigate are related to the passive transport of lipid molecules and proteins in two-dimensional crowded membranes or the motion in colloidal solutions or emulsions in effectively two-dimensional geometries, as well as inside supercrowded, surface adhered cells.
KW  - anomalous diffusion
KW  - crowded fluids
KW  - stochastic processes
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/18/1/013027
SN  - 1367-2630
VL  - 18
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Shin, Jaeoh
A1  - Cherstvy, Andrey G.
A1  - Metzler, Ralf
T1  - Self-subdiffusion in solutions of star-shaped crowders: non-monotonic effects of inter-particle interactions
JF  - New journal of physics : the open-access journal for physics
N2  - We examine by extensive computer simulations the self-diffusion of anisotropic star-like particles in crowded two-dimensional solutions. We investigate the implications of the area coverage fraction phi of the crowders and the crowder-crowder adhesion properties on the regime of transient anomalous diffusion. We systematically compute the mean squared displacement (MSD) of the particles, their time averaged MSD, and the effective diffusion coefficient. The diffusion is ergodic in the limit of long traces, such that the mean time averaged MSD converges towards the ensemble averaged MSD, and features a small residual amplitude spread of the time averaged MSD from individual trajectories. At intermediate time scales, we quantify the anomalous diffusion in the system. Also, we show that the translational-but not rotational-diffusivity of the particles Dis a nonmonotonic function of the attraction strength between them. Both diffusion coefficients decrease as the power law D(phi) similar to (1 - phi/phi*)(2 ... 2.4) with the area fraction phi occupied by the crowders and the critical value phi*. Our results might be applicable to rationalising the experimental observations of non-Brownian diffusion for a number of standard macromolecular crowders used in vitro to mimic the cytoplasmic conditions of living cells.
KW  - anomalous diffusion
KW  - crowded fluids
KW  - stochastic processes
Y1  - 2015
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/17/11/113028
SN  - 1367-2630
VL  - 17
PB  - IOP Publ. Ltd.
CY  - Bristol
ER  -