Chemically-mediated communication in self-oscillating, biomimetic cilia

Abstract

A single biological cilium can sense minute chemical variations and transmit this information to neighboring cilia to produce a global response to the local change. Herein, we undertake the first computational study of self-oscillating, artificial cilia and show that this system can “communicate” to undergo a biomimetic, collective response to small-scale chemical changes. The cilia are formed from chemo-responsive gels undergoing the oscillatory Belousov–Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction. The activator for the reaction, u, is generated within these BZ cilia and diffuses between the neighboring gels. We find that the spatial arrangement of the BZ cilia affects the local distribution of u, which in turn affects the dynamic behavior of the system. Consequently, two closely spaced cilia bend away from each other and the chemo-mechanical traveling waves within the gels propagate top down. By increasing the inter-cilia spacing, we dramatically alter the behavior of the system and uncover a distinctive form of chemotaxis: the tethered gels bend towards higher concentrations of u and hence, towards each other. This chemotaxis is particularly pronounced in an array of five cilia, where we observe a “bunching” of the cilia towards the highest concentration in u, accompanied by the synchronization of the chemo-mechanical waves. We also show that the cilial oscillations can be controlled remotely and non-invasively by light. By selectively illuminating certain cilia, we could “play” the array like a keyboard, causing a rhythmic variation in the heights of the gels. These attributes could be exploited in a range of microfluidic applications, where the controllable communication among the BZ cilia and self-oscillating surface topology can be harnessed to transport microscopic objects within the devices.