Micro- and nanorobots hold great potential to overcome brain barriers for the treatment of brain diseases. They can be delivered to the brain by local injection, intranasal application, or systemic administration. Combining active propulsion with biological and chemical approaches or external physical stimuli can improve brain targeting.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 digital issues and online access to articles
$99.00 per year
only $8.25 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Li, J., de Ávila, B. E.-F., Gao, W., Zhang, L. & Wang, J. Micro/nanorobots for biomedicine: delivery, surgery, sensing, and detoxification. Sci. Robot. 2, eaam6431 (2017).
Zhang, F. et al. Nanoparticle-modified microrobots for in vivo antibiotic delivery to treat acute bacterial pneumonia. Nat. Mater. 21, 1324–1332 (2022).
Nance, E., Pun, S. H., Saigal, R. & Sellers, D. L. Drug delivery to the central nervous system. Nat. Rev. Mater. 7, 314–331 (2022).
Joseph, A. et al. Chemotactic synthetic vesicles: design and applications in blood-brain barrier crossing. Sci. Adv. 3, e1700362 (2017).
Zhang, H. et al. Dual-responsive biohybrid neutrobots for active target delivery. Sci. Robot. 6, 9519eaaz (2021).
Wang, S. et al. Hydrogen‐powered microswimmers for precise and active hydrogen therapy towards acute Ischemic stroke. Adv. Funct. Mater. 31, 2009475 (2021).
Jeon, S. et al. Magnetically actuated microrobots as a platform for stem cell transplantation. Sci. Robot. 4, eaav4317 (2019).
Jeon, S. et al. A magnetically powered stem cell-based microrobot for minimally invasive stem cell delivery via the intranasal pathway in a mouse brain. Adv. Healthc. Mater. 10, e2100801 (2021).
Liu, L. et al. Control the neural stem cell fate with biohybrid piezoelectrical magnetite micromotors. Nano Lett. 21, 3518–3526 (2021).
Wu, T. et al. A photon-driven micromotor can direct nerve fibre growth. Nat. Photon. 6, 62–67 (2011).
Wrede, P. et al. Real-time 3D optoacoustic tracking of cell-sized magnetic microrobots circulating in the mouse brain vasculature. Sci. Adv. 8, eabm9132 (2022).
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by National Science Foundation grant 1931214. We thank H. Han, J. Seong and J. Joo for the valuable inputs.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Yoo, J., Tang, S. & Gao, W. Micro- and nanorobots for biomedical applications in the brain. Nat Rev Bioeng 1, 308–310 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-023-00038-4
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44222-023-00038-4
