Cellular Automata Model of Membrane Permeability

A cellular automata model of a semi-permeable membrane has been created separating two compartments of water. Several cells encrypting the properties of a polar solute are located near the membrane surface in one compartment. These solute cells influence the preferential diffusion of water cells from the other compartment to enter the membrane. This simulation of the osmotic effect is found to increase with the concentration of solute cells. In another study, the lipophilicity of the solute cells is varied and their diffusion into and through the semipermeable membrane is observed. The diffusion increases with increasing lipophilicity up to a certain value, followed by a sharp decline in the membrane passage of the solute. At this point, the concentration of solute within the membrane increases dramatically with modest increases in the lipophilicity of the solute. At this same critical value of lipophilicity, there is a notable decrease in the flux of water passing through the membrane in either direction. The simulation portrays the possibility of dramatic changes in membrane permeability to water and to some solutes when very minor changes are made in molecular structure influencing some physical properties.