UMR 8234, Laboratoire Physico-chimie des Electrolytes, Nanosystèmes InterfaciauX (PHENIX), UPMC Univ Paris 06, Sorbonne Universités, 4 place Jussieu - case 51, 75252 Paris cedex 05, France.
Department of Chemistry and Biology, University of Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, Fisciano (SA), Italy.
Lab Chip. 2017 Mar 29;17(7):1179-1189. doi: 10.1039/c6lc01583b.
Chemical communication leading to synchronization and collective behaviour of dynamic elements, such as cell colonies, is a widespread phenomenon with biological, physical and chemical importance. Such synchronization between elements proceeds via chemical communication by emmision, interdiffusion and reception of specific messenger molecules. On a lab scale, these phenomena can be modeled by encapsulating an oscillating chemical reaction, which serves as a signal (information) sender/receiver element, inside microcompartments such as droplet emulsions, liposomes and polymersomes. Droplets can thus be regarded as single units, able to generate chemical messengers that diffuse in the environment and hence can interact with other compartments. The Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is a well-known chemical oscillator largely used as a model for complex nonlinear phenomena, including chemical, physical and biological examples. When the BZ-reaction is encapsulated inside microcompartments, its chemical intermediates can serve as messengers by diffusing among different microcompartments, to trigger specific reactions leading to a collective behavior between the elements. The geometry and constitution of the diffusion pathways play an important role in governing the collective behaviour of the system. In this context, microfluidics is not only a versatile tool for mastering the encapsulation process of the BZ-reaction in monodisperse microcompartments, but also for creating geometries and networks with well defined boundaries. The individual compartments can be engineered with selected properties using different surfactants in the case of simple emulsions, or with specific membrane properties in the case of liposomes. Furthermore, it enables the arrangement of these microcompartments in various geometric configurations, where the diffusive coupling pathways between individual compartments are both spatially and chemically well-defined. In this tutorial paper, we review a number of articles reporting various approaches to generate networks of compartmentalized Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) chemical oscillators using microfluidics. In contrast to biological cellular networks, the dynamical characteristics of the BZ-reaction is well-known and, when confined in microcompartments arranged in different configurations with a pure interdiffusive coupling, these communicative microreactors can serve to mimic various types of bio-physical networks, aiding to comprehend the concept of chemical communication.
化学通讯导致动态元件（如细胞菌落）的同步和集体行为是一种具有生物学、物理学和化学重要性的广泛现象。这种元件之间的同步通过特定信使分子的发射、互扩散和接收来进行化学通讯。在实验室规模上，可以通过将作为信号（信息）发送/接收元件的振荡化学反应封装在微区室（如乳液液滴、脂质体和聚合物体）中来模拟这些现象。因此，液滴可以被视为能够产生扩散到环境中并可以与其他隔间相互作用的化学信使的单个单元。Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) 反应是一种众所周知的化学振荡器，广泛用作复杂非线性现象的模型，包括化学、物理和生物学实例。当 BZ 反应被封装在微区室中时，其化学中间体可以通过在不同微区室之间扩散作为信使，触发导致元件之间集体行为的特定反应。扩散途径的几何形状和组成在控制系统的集体行为方面起着重要作用。在这种情况下，微流控技术不仅是掌握 BZ 反应在单分散微区室中封装过程的多功能工具，而且还可以创建具有明确定义边界的几何形状和网络。可以使用不同的表面活性剂对简单乳液中的单个隔室进行工程设计，或者对脂质体使用特定的膜性质，从而对隔室进行工程设计，以获得所选性质。此外，它可以将这些微区室排列成各种几何配置，其中个体隔室之间的扩散偶联途径在空间和化学上都是明确定义的。在本教程中，我们回顾了一些报道使用微流控技术生成分区化 Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) 化学振荡器网络的各种方法的文章。与生物细胞网络不同，BZ 反应的动力学特性是众所周知的，并且当将其限制在以纯互扩散偶联方式排列在不同配置中的微区室中时，这些通信微反应器可用于模拟各种类型的生物物理网络，有助于理解化学通讯的概念。
