Patel Haritosh, Garrido Portilla Vicente, Shneidman Anna V, Movilli Jacopo, Alvarenga Jack, Dupré Christophe, Aizenberg Michael, Murthy Venkatesh N, Tropsha Alexander, Aizenberg Joanna
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02134, USA.
Department of Chemical Sciences, University of Padova, Padova, 35131, Italy.
Adv Sci (Weinh). 2025 Mar;12(12):e2412669. doi: 10.1002/advs.202412669. Epub 2025 Jan 21.
Natural olfactory systems possess remarkable sensitivity and precision beyond what is currently achievable by engineered gas sensors. Unlike their artificial counterparts, noses are capable of distinguishing scents associated with mixtures of volatile molecules in complex, typically fluctuating environments and can adapt to changes. This perspective examines the multifaceted biological principles that provide olfactory systems their discriminatory prowess, and how these ideas can be ported to the design of electronic noses for substantial improvements in performance across metrics such as sensitivity and ability to speciate chemical mixtures. The topics examined herein include the fluid dynamics of odorants in natural channels; specificity and kinetics of odorant interactions with olfactory receptors and mucus linings; complex signal processing that spatiotemporally encodes physicochemical properties of odorants; active sampling techniques, like biological sniffing and nose repositioning; biological priming; and molecular chaperoning. Each of these components of natural olfactory systems are systmatically investigated, as to how they have been or can be applied to electronic noses. While not all artificial sensors can employ these strategies simultaneously, integrating a subset of bioinspired principles can address issues like sensitivity, drift, and poor selectivity, offering advancements in many sectors such as environmental monitoring, industrial safety, and disease diagnostics.
自然嗅觉系统具有卓越的灵敏度和精度，远超目前工程化气体传感器所能达到的水平。与人工嗅觉系统不同，鼻子能够在复杂且通常波动的环境中区分与挥发性分子混合物相关的气味，并能适应变化。本文探讨了赋予嗅觉系统辨别能力的多方面生物学原理，以及如何将这些理念应用于电子鼻的设计，以在诸如灵敏度和区分化学混合物能力等指标上实现性能的大幅提升。本文所探讨的主题包括天然通道中气味分子的流体动力学；气味分子与嗅觉受体及黏液层相互作用的特异性和动力学；对气味分子物理化学性质进行时空编码的复杂信号处理；主动采样技术，如生物嗅探和鼻子重新定位；生物预激发；以及分子伴侣作用。对自然嗅觉系统的这些组成部分逐一进行了系统研究，探讨了它们如何已经或能够应用于电子鼻。虽然并非所有人工传感器都能同时采用这些策略，但整合一部分受生物启发的原理可以解决诸如灵敏度、漂移和选择性差等问题，在环境监测、工业安全和疾病诊断等许多领域取得进展。
