Application of diffusion theory to the relationship between partition coefficient and biological response.

A diffusion model for transport through multilaminates is studied as a possible way to predict the optimal biological response of a set of congeners with respect to the oil-water partition coefficient, P. The model predicts the bilinear form typical of biological response data and, unlike the earlier kinetic model, also relates the results to physical processes, predicts the structure with the optimal response in terms of diffusion constants, and shows such an optimum prior to steady state for an infinite dose. Diffusion through an oil-water multilaminate causes extraordinary separation of permeating species based on partition coefficient and diffusion constant for times shorter than the lag time.