Magnetic Microrobots with Folate Targeting for Drug Delivery

Abstract

Untethered microrobots can be used for cargo delivery (e.g., drug molecules, stem cells, and genes) targeting designated areas. However, it is not enough to just reach the lesion site, as some drugs can only play the best therapeutic effect within the cells. To this end, folic acid (FA) was introduced into microrobots in this work as a key to mediate endocytosis of drugs into cells. The microrobots here were fabricated with biodegradable gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) and modified with magnetic metal–organic framework (MOF). The porous structure of MOF and the hydrogel network of polymerized GelMA were used for the loading of enough FA and anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) respectively. Utilizing the magnetic property of magnetic MOF, these microrobots can gather around the lesion site with the navigation of magnetic fields. The combination effects of FA targeting and magnetic navigation substantially improve the anticancer efficiency of these microrobots. The result shows that the cancer cells inhibition rate of microrobots with FA can be up to 93%, while that of the ones without FA was only 78%. The introduction of FA is a useful method to improve the drug transportation ability of microrobots, providing a meaningful reference for further research.

Cell‐Based Micro/Nano‐Robots for Biomedical Applications: A Review

“…[ 59 ] The propulsion mechanisms of micro/nano‐robots include self‐ and external field‐propelled types according to the energy source. The self‐propelled type generally refers to chemical actuation, [ 60 ] whereas the external field‐propelled type includes magnetic, [ 61 ] acoustic, [ 62 ] and optoelectronic actuation. [ 63,64 ] Herein, we introduce the principles, applications, and comparisons of these actuation types ( Table 1 ).…”

A Review of Soft Microrobots: Material, Fabrication, and Actuation

“…[186] Using this technology, researchers have fabricated many complex and tiny high-precision structures for tissue engineering [96] drug delivery. [35,38,64,187] With the method of 2PP, Dong et al fabricated soft microrobots with GelMA and magnetoelectric nanoparticles (MENPs), and these microrobots can eventually transport nerve cells and stimulate cell differentiation. [96] Using 2PP technology, Lee et al fabricated size-controllable hydrogel microrollers that can cross narrow channels.…”

Stimuli-Responsive Functional Micro-/Nanorobots: A Review

“…11 In addition to being actuated by external fields, srFM/Ns can additionally execute stimuli-induced functions such as swelling/shrinking, shape/size changes, bond breaking, and mechanical movements (walking, jumping, and bending) 40−45 to perform different tasks (drug delivery, 46−48 biosensing, 49−51 environment decontamination, 52 bionic motion, 44,53 grippers, 54 and soft microwalkers 41 ) (Figure 1). srFM/Ns have been shown to play significant roles in many frontier applications (such as drug release, 55, 56 biosensing, 49−51 environment decontamination, 52 bionic motion, 44,53 grippers, 54 and soft microwalkers 41 ). As promising as srFM/Ns can be, few reviews have focused on them.…”

“…srFM/Ns have been shown to play significant roles in many frontier applications (such as drug release, , biosensing, − environment decontamination, bionic motion, , grippers, and soft microwalkers). As promising as srFM/Ns can be, few reviews have focused on them.…”