Air bubbles cause malfunctions in the use of channel-based fluidic devices, such as cell culture systems, biochemical reactors and fuel cells. They also disrupt water transport in xylem vessels of plants. However, vascular plants have inherent porous structures in xylem vessels to regulate water transport and prevent gas bubbles from spreading, functioning as a local pressure regulator in the xylem vessels. In this study, to investigate the hydrodynamic role of porous structures for embolism repair, we fabricated a mesh structure-embedded channel inspired by xylem vessels. As a result, we observed ‘stop and acceleration’ phenomenon at the xylem-inspired porous structures. The moving water front stopped and then accelerated after passing through the mesh structures. Temporal variations of air-water meniscus movement and pressure in the xylem-inspired channel were measured with varying flow rate. This study would be helpful for understanding the regulation of water transport in plants as well as designing fluidic devices with porous structure for two-phase flow control.