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We tested the properties of diffusion in microfluidics labyrinths, explored the impact of confinement on diffusion : can it create anomalous diffusion; would it be enhanced or in contrast hindered ?

 The purpose of this study is twofold. Using microfluidic networks and our system of fringe pattern photobleaching, we studied the diffusion of particles at two levels: inside the elementary cells, and at a macroscopic level (up to 100 cells

We investigated the probability of escape from a cell, and then the possibility of anomalous, enhanced diffusion, while the elementary step is fixed.

The characteristic dimension of the cells is about 50 µm; we vary the size and the number of connections between these elementary cells to create anistropic labyrinths (mimicking the micelles in the Levy flight process) or symmetric situations (picture).

The particles are “trapped and released”, from cell to cell, mimicking the “corral and fence” hypothesis of real membranes.

We found that the particles follow an enhanced diffusion at the scale of one to three cells, but their macroscopic movement rapidly finds back its Brownian character.