Abstract/Summary

Introduction: The Belousov Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction is commonly used as a proxy for biological systems in physical-chemistry experiments. The BZ reaction is well known to be influenced by environmental perturbations, very much like biological systems. The mechanisms of which have been studied to understand how this relates back to biology. Aim: There is a lack of knowledge regarding the effect external electric fields (EF) and surfactant concentration have on the BZ reaction, and how this relates to biological function in cells. We aim to use the BZ reaction as a model of how biological systems interact with one another, along with the interaction with their environment. Methods: Ferroin catalysed BZ solutions were prepared and pipetted in droplet form into an oil phase. The droplets were subjected to various external perturbations and recorded using a DSLR camera recording at 60 frames per second. The environmental stimulation involves varied power AC and DC fields, along with a range of concentrations of surfactant dissolved in the oil phase. Results: Firstly, the discovery of BZ droplet electrotaxis was reported and quantified, where the static EF was found to create an inhomogeneous distribution of ions within the droplet, which leads to a bias in the formation of leading centres (LC) across the droplet. The phenomena was then deployed as a form of push-pull mechanism on oscillating BZ droplets to cause their division. Finally, continuing from the division experiments, we study the synchronisation between the periodicity in a pair of droplets. We found that the oscillating droplets had an influence on one another, and would synchronise their beating behaviour according to one another. Conclusion: We have found that the ferroin-catalysed BZ droplets can be used to simulate biological redox signalling, and as a proxy for understanding processes from environmental signal detection to cell division, where our experiments have shown that an external EF can induce the electrostatic behaviour, and contribute to the droplet division event.