Plain meaning
Start with the shortest useful explanation before going deeper.
Lending pools where risk is contained to specific asset pairs or groups, preventing a depeg or exploit in one asset from affecting the entire protocol. Each isolated pool has its own risk parameters, interest rates, and collateral factors. On Solana, MarginFi and Kamino use isolated pool architectures so that volatile or newer tokens can be listed without exposing core assets like SOL and USDC to additional risk.