Sperm Micromotors for Cargo Delivery through Flowing Blood
Research output: Contribution to journal › Research article › Contributed › peer-review
Contributors
Abstract
Micromotors are recognized as promising candidates for untethered micromanipulation and targeted cargo delivery in complex biological environments. However, their feasibility in the circulatory system has been limited due to the low thrust force exhibited by many of the reported synthetic micromotors, which is not sufficient to overcome the high flow and complex composition of blood. Here we present a hybrid sperm micromotor that can actively swim against flowing blood (continuous and pulsatile) and perform the function of heparin cargo delivery. In this biohybrid system, the sperm flagellum provides a high propulsion force while the synthetic microstructure serves for magnetic guidance and cargo transport. Moreover, single sperm micromotors can assemble into a train-like carrier after magnetization, allowing the transport of multiple sperm or medical cargoes to the area of interest, serving as potential anticoagulant agents to treat blood clots or other diseases in the circulatory system.
Details
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2982-2993 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | ACS nano |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 3 |
Publication status | Published - 24 Mar 2020 |
Peer-reviewed | Yes |
External IDs
PubMed | 32096976 |
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ORCID | /0000-0003-0189-3448/work/161890295 |
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Keywords
- anticoagulation, bloodstream, cargo delivery, heparin, rheotaxis, sperm micromotors