Frontiers | Micro/Nano Motors and Robots

Editorial11 November 2022

Renfeng Dong, Yuepeng Cai, Tailin Xuand Beatriz Jurado Sánchez

paramagnetic nanoparticles into a vector-controlled microswarm with 3D collective motions by programming sawtooth magnetic fields. It can be flexibly switch horizonal swarm to vertical stand and hover in situ, and the wheel-like swarms endowed with multi-modal locomotion and loadcarrying capabilities. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fbioe.2022.877964/full For single motor or robot, speed and direction control are the two most important properties. Indeed, with strong propulsion，the self-stirring effect of the microenvironment generated by the motors or robots will greatly improve their contact efficiency with a given target, thereby improving the efficiency, especially in biomedical applications, such as cell detection, drug delivery, DNA sensing, In addition to the utilize the propulsion, compare to traditional drug delivery systems usually rely on the passive diffusion, efficient direction control of micro/nano motors or robots means active targeted delivery which also plays key roles in the biomedical applications. In this context, Hua et al.have illustrated a magnetic-driven hydrogel microrobots as drug delivery system for drug delivery directly to the tumor site by magnetic field regulation to enhance the drug efficiency and reduce the side effects. Meanwhile, the selective inhibition of this system could be easily controlled by programming the strength of the magnetic field.

3,056 views

REVIEW

16 September 2022

“Motile-targeting” drug delivery platforms based on micro/nanorobots for tumor therapy

Di Zhang, 2 more and Fangzhi Mou

Traditional drug delivery systems opened the gate for tumor-targeted therapy, but they generally took advantage of enhanced permeability and retention or ligand-receptor mediated interaction, and thus suffered from limited recognition range (<0.5 nm) and low targeting efficiency (0.7%, median). Alternatively, micro/nanorobots (MNRs) may act as emerging “motile-targeting” drug delivery platforms to deliver therapeutic payloads, thereby making a giant step toward effective and safe cancer treatment due to their autonomous movement and navigation in biological media. This review focuses on the most recent developments of MNRs in “motile-targeting” drug delivery. After a brief introduction to traditional tumor-targeted drug delivery strategies and various MNRs, the representative applications of MNRs in “motile-targeting” drug delivery are systematically streamlined in terms of the propelling mechanisms. Following a discussion of the current challenges of each type of MNR in biomedical applications, as well as future prospects, several promising designs for MNRs that could benefit in "motile-targeting" drug delivery are proposed. This work is expected to attract and motivate researchers from different communities to advance the creation and practical application of the "motile-targeting" drug delivery platforms.

13,173 views

54 citations