In the last decade the Fick-Jacobs approximation has been exploited to
capture the transport across constrictions. Here, we review the derivation of
the Fick-Jacobs equation with particular emphasis on its linear response
regime. We show that for fore-aft symmetric channels the flux of
non-interacting systems is fully captured by its linear response regime. For
this case we derive a very simple formula that captures the correct trends and
that can be exploited as a simple tool to design experiments or simulations.
Finally, we show that higher order corrections in the flux may appear for
non-symmetric channels