posted on 2018-02-08, 00:00authored byMasakazu Kuze, Hiroyuki Kitahata, Oliver Steinbock, Satoshi Nakata
Spatiotemporal
oscillations confined to quasi-2D surface layers
or 3D volumes play an important role for wave-based information relay
and global oscillations in living systems. Here, we describe experiments
with the Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction confined to microbeads,
in which the catalyst is selectively loaded either onto the surface
or into the body of the spherical beads. We find that the dynamics
of global oscillations, traveling reaction fronts, and rotating spiral
waves under surface confinement are strikingly different from those
in the bead volume. Our results establish a useful model system for
the study of geometrical effects on nonlinear chemical processes and
provide diagnostic features that allow the distinction of membrane-mediated
2D and cytosolic 3D processes in biological cells.