Light-Driven Microrobots for Targeted Drug Delivery.

Journal: ACS biomaterials science & engineering
Published Date:

Abstract

As a new micromanipulation tool with the advantages of small size, flexible movement and easy manipulation, light-driven microrobots have a wide range of prospects in biomedical fields such as drug targeting and cell manipulation. Recently, microrobots have been controlled in various ways, and light field has become a research hotspot by its advantages of noncontact manipulation, precise localization, fast response, and biocompatibility. It utilizes the force or deformation generated by the light field to precisely control the microrobot, and combines with the drug release technology to realize the targeted drug application. Therefore, this paper provides an overview of light-driven microrobots with drug targeting to provide new ideas for the manipulation of microrobots. Here, this paper briefly categorizes the driving mechanisms and materials of light-driven microrobots, which mainly include photothermal, photochemical, and biological. Then, typical designs of light-driven microrobots with different driving mechanisms and control strategies for multiple physical fields are summarized. Finally, the applications of microrobots in the fields of drug targeting and bioimaging are presented as well as the future prospects of light-driven microrobots in the biomedical field are demonstrated.

Authors

  • Qilong Cheng
    School of Biomedical Engineering, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China.
  • Xingqi Lu
    School of Biomedical Engineering, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China.
  • Yunhao Tai
    School of Biomedical Engineering, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China.
  • Tingting Luo
    School of Biomedical Engineering and the 3D-Printing and Tissue Engineering Center (3DPTEC), Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, China. yangrunhuai@ahmu.edu.cn.
  • Runhuai Yang
    School of Biomedical Engineering, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, P.R.China.