Molecular Robotics Laboratory, Department of Robotics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan.
Langmuir. 2023 Apr 11;39(14):4863-4871. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c02859. Epub 2023 Mar 27.
As life evolved, the path from simple single cell organisms to multicellular enabled increasingly complex functionalities. The spatial separation of reactions at the micron scale achieved by cellular structures allowed diverse and scalable implementation in biomolecular systems. Mimicking such spatially separated domains in a scalable approach could open a route to creating synthetic cell-like structured systems. Here, we report a facile and scalable method to create multicellular-like, multi-compartment (MC) structures. Aqueous droplet-based compartments ranging from 50 to 400 μm were stabilized and connected together by hydrophobic layers composed of phospholipids and an emulsifier. Planar centimeter-scale MC structures were formed by droplet deposition on a water interface. Further, the resulting macroscopic shapes were shown to be achieved by spatially controlled deposition. To demonstrate configurability and potential versatility, MC assemblies of both homogeneous and mixed compartment types were shown. Notably, magnetically heterogeneous systems were achieved by the inclusion of magnetic nanoparticles in defined sections. Such structures demonstrated actuated motion with structurally imparted directionality. These novel and functionalized structures exemplify a route toward future applications including compartmentally assembled "multicellular" molecular robots.
随着生命的进化，从简单的单细胞生物到多细胞生物的进化使得功能越来越复杂。细胞结构在微米尺度上实现的反应的空间分离使得生物分子系统能够实现多样化和可扩展的实现。在可扩展的方法中模拟这种空间分离的区域可能为创建合成的类似细胞的结构化系统开辟了一条途径。在这里，我们报告了一种简单且可扩展的方法来创建多细胞样的多隔间（MC）结构。基于水相的隔间，尺寸从 50 到 400 μm 不等，由由磷脂和乳化剂组成的疏水性层稳定并连接在一起。通过在水界面上沉积液滴形成平面厘米级的 MC 结构。此外，所得到的宏观形状通过空间控制沉积来实现。为了展示可配置性和潜在的多功能性，展示了同质和混合隔间类型的 MC 组件。值得注意的是，通过在特定区域包含磁性纳米粒子实现了磁异质系统。这些结构表现出具有结构赋予方向性的致动运动。这些新型和功能化的结构为未来的应用提供了范例，包括分区组装的“多细胞”分子机器人。
