Rapid delivery of drug carriers propelled and navigated by catalytic nanoshuttles.
This paper reports the first proof-of-concept of using catalytic nanoshuttles to pick up, transport, and release common drug carriers including biocompatible and biodegradable polymeric particles and liposomes. The rapid transport of a wide size range of drug-loaded particles (100 nm-3.0 μm) with a speed approximately three orders of magnitude faster than that of the particles transported by Brownian motion demonstrates the high propulsion power of the nanoshuttles. The nanoshuttles' navigation ability is illustrated by the transport of the drug carriers through a microchannel from the pick-up to the release microwell. Such ability of nanomotors to rapidly deliver drug-loaded polymeric particles and liposomes to their target destination represents a novel approach towards transporting drug carriers in a target-specific manner. This also potentially addresses the obstacles of current nanoparticle drug delivery, such as off-targeting of particles. While an initial concept of actively transporting therapeutic particles is demonstrated in vitro in this paper, future efforts will focus on practical in vivo motor-based targeted drug delivery in connection to fuel-free nanovehicles.
Department of NanoEngineering, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
Daniel
D
Kagan
Rawiwan
R
Laocharoensuk
Maria
M
Zimmerman
Corbin
C
Clawson
Shankar
S
Balasubramanian
Dae
D
Kang
Daniel
D
Bishop
Sirilak
S
Sattayasamitsathit
Liangfang
L
Zhang
Joseph
J
Wang
D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D008081:Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure; D011108:Polymers / Q000737:chemistry
D004337:Drug Carriers; D008081:Liposomes; D037742:Nanotubes, Carbon; D011108:Polymers