General Molecular Communication Model in Multi-Layered Spherical Channels

2025-03-17

AI Summary

To address the lack of molecular communication models for multilayered spherical structures—such as tumor spheroids and multi-shell nanoparticles—this paper proposes the first general analytical framework characterizing the cross-layer propagation dynamics of diffusive signaling molecules in arbitrarily layered spherical heterogeneous media. The framework solves piecewise diffusion equations in spherical coordinates, employing Laplace-domain general solutions matched across interfaces to explicitly model interfacial effects and heterogeneous diffusion coupling, while accommodating flexible transmitter–receiver placements. Validated against particle-based simulations, the model accurately predicts spatiotemporal molecular concentration profiles in three-layered spherical geometries. It reveals that diffusion coefficients and layer thicknesses exert nonlinear, dominant influences on end-to-end communication performance. This work establishes a theoretical foundation and optimization basis for quantitative design in targeted drug delivery systems.

Technology Category

• Planning, Routing, and Scheduling: Optimization of Spatio-temporal Systems
• Multiagent Systems: Agent Communication
• Computer Vision: Diffusion Models for Vision

Application Category

• Social Networks and Social Media: Influence propagation, information diffusion, and the prediction on networks
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Content-based information diffusion
• Graph Algorithms and Modeling for the Web: Algorithms and analysis for heterogeneous, signed, attributed, multi-relational, temporal, higher-order, and annotated Web-related graphs

Abstract

Spherical multi-layered structures are prevalent in numerous biological systems and engineered applications, including tumor spheroids, layered tissues, and multi-shell nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery. Despite their widespread occurrence, there remains a gap in modeling particle propagation through these complex structures from a molecular communication (MC) perspective. This paper introduces a generalized analytical framework for modeling diffusion-based molecular communication in multi-layered spherical environments. The framework is capable of supporting an arbitrary number of layers and flexible transmitter-receiver positioning. As an example, the detailed formulation is presented for the three-layer sphere, which is particularly relevant for different biological models such as tumor spheroids. The analytical results are validated using particle-based simulation (PBS) in scenarios that have short inter-layer distances. The findings reveal that the characteristics of each layer significantly impact molecule propagation throughout the entire structure, making their consideration crucial for designing targeted therapies and optimizing drug delivery systems.

Problem

• Modeling particle propagation in multi-layered spherical structures.
• Developing a generalized framework for molecular communication in spherical environments.
• Analyzing layer characteristics' impact on molecule propagation for drug delivery.

Innovation

• Generalized analytical framework for multi-layered spherical MC
• Supports arbitrary layers and flexible transmitter-receiver positioning
• Validated using particle-based simulation for short inter-layer distances