Anisotropically Deforming Sandwich-Type Self-Oscillating Gels: A Hierarchical Model Platform of Cardiac Tissue

Here, we present sandwich-type self-oscillating gels as a potential model for exploring the cardiac hierarchy and derived emergent properties. The sandwich-type self-oscillating gels, mimicking the basic block of the cardiac muscle tissue, consist of the base and self-oscillating gel layers, where the self-oscillating layer at both sides surrounds the base gels in the middle. The sandwich-type self-oscillating gels feature a distinguished deformation according to the equilibrium condition. The shape anisotropically deforms when the system is far from equilibrium (during a Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction), while it isotropically changes in the equilibrium. Similar to the case for the cardiac muscle, the area ratio between the two components determines the anisotropic deformation behavior. Considering that the self-oscillating and base gels can serve as cardiomyocytes and an extracellular matrix, our study can be an alternative soft material-based experimental platform for investigating how the changes in the substructural properties affect the superstructural functions in the heart tissues.