The team used a rotating magnetic field to move the microbots through the bloodstream. (Image Credit: Zhang et al., Sci Robot. 6, eaaz9519 (2021))
Researchers at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China have developed microbots, called neutrobots, capable of delivering drugs to treat brain tumors in mice. Coated in E. coli to coax the immune system into attacking and absorbing them along with cancer-fighting drugs, these neutrobots reached a mouse’s brain by traveling through its bloodstream. The microbots could have applications for medical treatment in the future.
The team’s research builds on a previous study that involved remotely moving liquid-coated nanobots through the eye’s vitreous. This study had applications for ophthalmological research and medical treatments.
Each nanogel drug-loaded body of the microbot is entirely magnetic. To remotely control its movements, the researchers placed the mouse inside a rotating magnetic field. The team managed to make the bio-bots change paths similar to the Snake video game. These neutrobots were controlled via magnetic fields once they entered the neutrophils, a specific type of white blood cell. They pervaded the brain in the neutrophils’ casing, and thus, formed the name neutrobots.
The team took eight years to engineer the microbot swarms that bridge the gap between the bloodstream in the mice’s tail, where the bots were injected, and its brain, where gliomas inhabited. However, the rodent’s white blood cells didn’t absorb the microbots at first. To overcome this issue, the team enveloped them in E. coli membranes, which prevents the drugs from leaking and triggers the white blood cells to recognize the bots as a threat.
Image showing a neutrobot huddling against a glioma tumor in the mouse’s brain. (Image Credit: Zhang et al., Sci Robot. 6, eaaz9519 (2021))
As a result, the microbots were taken into the bloodstream. Then, they moved the cells to the brain and permeated inside via a process that neutrophils utilize called chemotaxis to deliver the cancer-fighting drug paclitaxel to the tumors. The team used Vivo imaging and relied on the survival of mice to verify the drug delivery.
These microbots have many different applications. They’re designed to deliver drugs for the treatment of varying diseases, such as cerebral thrombosis, apoplexy, and epilepsy. They could also have applications in the future for humans, even though they’re used in mice for now.
Experts do not have clear visuals to indicate what these robots are doing in real-time, which is crucial if they plan on using them in the future. Improving real-time imaging systems is needed to enhance the bots’ movement.
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