Microrobot with Gyroid Surface and Gold Nanostar for High Drug Loading and Near-Infrared-Triggered Chemo-Photothermal Therapy

• Main Authors: Shirong Zheng (Author), Manh Cuong Hoang (Author), Van Du Nguyen (Author), Gwangjun Go (Author), Minghui Nan (Author), Bobby Aditya Darmawan (Author), Seokjae Kim (Author), Seung-hyun Im (Author), Taeksu Lee (Author), Doyeon Bang (Author), Jong-Oh Park (Author), Eunpyo Choi (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: MDPI AG, 2022-11-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14112393; 1999-4923
• Keywords: microrobot; Gyroid surface; drug loading; chemo-photothermal therapy; Pharmacy and materia medica; RS1-441
• Source: Pharmaceutics, Vol 14, Iss 11, p 2393 (2022)

The use of untethered microrobots for precise synergistic anticancer drug delivery and controlled release has attracted attention over the past decade. A high surface area of the microrobot is desirable to achieve greater therapeutic effect by increasing the drug load. Therefore, various nano- or microporous microrobot structures have been developed to load more drugs. However, as most porous structures are not interconnected deep inside, the drug-loading efficiency may be reduced. Here, we propose a magnetically guided helical microrobot with a Gyroid surface for high drug-loading efficiency and precise drug delivery. All spaces inside the proposed microrobot are interconnected, thereby enabling drug loading deep inside the structure. Moreover, we introduce gold nanostars on the microrobot structure for near-infrared-induced photothermal therapy and triggering drug release. The results of this study encourage further exploration of a high loading efficiency in cell-based therapeutics, such as stem cells or immune cells, for microrobot-based drug-delivery systems.