3D Biomimetic Tongue-Emulating Surfaces for Tribological Applications

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 12; no. 44; pp. 49371 - 49385
• Main Authors: Andablo-Reyes, Efren, Bryant, Michael, Neville, Anne, Hyde, Paul, Sarkar, Rik, Francis, Mathew, Sarkar, Anwesha
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 04.11.2020
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and Medical Applications of Materials and Interfaces; Biomimetic Materials - chemistry; Humans; Lubrication; Particle Size; Printing, Three-Dimensional; Silicones - chemistry; Surface Properties; Swine; Tongue - chemistry; Wettability; surface engineering; Poisson point process wettability; biomimetic; mesh generation; lubrication; 3D printing; friction; soft tribology
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c12925

Oral friction on the tongue surface plays a pivotal role in mechanics of food transport, speech, sensing, and hedonic responses. The highly specialized biophysical features of the human tongue such as micropapillae-dense topology, optimum wettability, and deformability present architectural challenges in designing artificial tongue surfaces, and the absence of such a biomimetic surface impedes the fundamental understanding of tongue–food/fluid interaction. Herein, we fabricate for the first time, a 3D soft biomimetic surface that replicates the topography and wettability of a real human tongue. The 3D-printed fabrication contains a Poisson point process-based (random) papillae distribution and is employed to micromold soft silicone surfaces with wettability modifications. We demonstrate the unprecedented capability of these surfaces to replicate the theoretically defined and simulated collision probability of papillae and to closely resemble the tribological performances of human tongue masks. These de novo biomimetic surfaces pave the way for accurate quantification of mechanical interactions in the soft oral mucosa.