Magnetic Biohybrid Microrobot Multimers Based on Chlorella Cells for Enhanced Targeted Drug Delivery
Abstract
Magnetic micro-/nanorobots have been regarded as a promising platform for targeted drug delivery, and tremendous strategies have been developed in recent years. However, realizing precise and efficient drug delivery in vivo still remains challenging, in which the versatile integration of good biocompatibility and reconfiguration is the main obstacle for micro-/nanorobots. Herein, we proposed a novel strategy of magnetic biohybrid microrobot multimers (BMMs) based on Chlorella ( Ch .) and demonstrated their great potential for targeted drug delivery. The spherical Ch . cells around 3–5 μm were magnetized with Fe 3 O 4 to fabricate biohybrid microrobots and then loaded with doxorubicin (DOX). Using magnetic dipolar interactions, the microrobot units could reconfigure into chain-like BMMs as tiny dimers, trimers, and so forth via attraction-induced self-assembly and disassemble reversibly via repulsion. The BMMs exhibited diverse swimming modes including rolling and tumbling with high maneuverability, and the rolling dimer’s velocity could reach 107.6 μm/s (∼18 body length/s) under a 70 Gs precessing magnetic field. Furthermore, the BMMs exhibited low cell toxicity, high DOX loading capacity, and pH-triggered drug release, which were verified by chemotherapy experiments toward HeLa cancer cells. Due to the remarkable versatility and facile fabrication, the BMMs demonstrate great potential for targeted anticancer therapy.
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Magnetic microrobot multimers engineered from C. pyrenoidosa for targeted DOX delivery exhibited diverse swimming modes including rolling and tumbling with high maneuverability, and the rolling dimer's velocity reached 107.6 μm/s (~18 body length/s) under a 70 Gs magnetic field.
“The microrobot multimers exhibited diverse swimming modes including rolling and tumbling with high maneuverability, and the rolling dimer’s velocity could reach 107.6 μm/s (~18 body length/s) under a 70 Gs processing magnetic field.”
From Emerging Applications of Chlorella sp. and Spirulina (Arthrospira) sp. (2023) · cites this paper as [169]
Chemotherapy experiments toward HeLa cancer cells confirmed high DOX loading capacity and low cell toxicity of the C. pyrenoidosa magnetic microrobot microcarriers.
“Chemotherapy experiments toward HeLa cancer cells confirmed the high DOX loading capacity and low cell toxicity of the microcarriers.”
From Emerging Applications of Chlorella sp. and Spirulina (Arthrospira) sp. (2023) · cites this paper as [169]
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Emerging Applications of Chlorella sp. and Spirulina (Arthrospira) sp.
Abreu, A. P., Martins, R., & Nunes, J. (2023) · Bioengineering · doi:10.3390/bioengineering10080955 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
- Authors
- Gong, D., Celi, N., Zhang, D., & Cai, J.
- Affiliations
- Beihang University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Cai, Jun
- Venue
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2022-01-12
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 6320-6330
- ISSN
- 1944-8244 (ISSN-L)
- 1944-8252
- OpenAlex
- W4205482802
- Cited by
- 160
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 10
- FWCI
- 12.70
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (51775022)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Micro and Nano Robotics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Microtubule and mitosis dynamics
- Keywords
- magnetic microrobots, biohybrid microrobots, targeted drug delivery, doxorubicin, Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles, magnetic dipole interaction, self-assembly, swimming behavior, pH-responsive drug release, cancer therapy, biocompatibility
- MeSH terms
- Biocompatible Materials, Cell Survival, Chlorella, Doxorubicin, Drug Carriers, HeLa Cells, Humans, Hydrogen-Ion Concentration, Magnetics, Robotics, Ferrosoferric Oxide, Magnetic Fields, Drug Liberation
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