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Microscopic robot 'fish' could soon be used to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly into the tumours of cancer patients
By MAIL ON SUNDAY REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 17:01 EST, 4 December 2021 | UPDATED: 17:01 EST, 4 December 2021
Fish-shaped 'microrobots' could be used to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly into tumours, sparing cancer patients from some of the worst side effects of the treatment.
The microscopic robots, which are one-hundredth of a millimetre in size, have been made my Chinese scientists using a special 3D printing technique, from a gel that changes shape when exposed to different pH levels.
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They then bathed the 'fish' in an iron oxide solution, which makes them magnetic, before loading its 'mouth' with chemo medication.
It could be injected into a blood vessel then guided my magnets to the location of a tumour.
Cancer cells cause the pH levels in the fluids surrounding them to become more acidic and, reacting to this, the robot changes shape and opens it's 'mouth' discharging chemotherapy drugs contained inside.
The microscopic robots (pictured), which are one-hundredth of a millimetre in size, have been made my Chinese scientists using a special 3D printing technique, from a gel that changes shape when exposed to different pH levels
They have only been tested in petri dishes so far and the experts say, before they are put into use, the robots would have be made even smaller.
At present, chemo drugs are injected into body and travel through the circulation freely, killing cancer cells but also causing 'collateral damage' to healthy cells – and side effects, such as hair loss.
The robots might offer a more precise way to administer these drugs, said the researchers.
By MAIL ON SUNDAY REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 17:01 EST, 4 December 2021 | UPDATED: 17:01 EST, 4 December 2021
Fish-shaped 'microrobots' could be used to deliver chemotherapy drugs directly into tumours, sparing cancer patients from some of the worst side effects of the treatment.
The microscopic robots, which are one-hundredth of a millimetre in size, have been made my Chinese scientists using a special 3D printing technique, from a gel that changes shape when exposed to different pH levels.
noscript>
They then bathed the 'fish' in an iron oxide solution, which makes them magnetic, before loading its 'mouth' with chemo medication.
It could be injected into a blood vessel then guided my magnets to the location of a tumour.
Cancer cells cause the pH levels in the fluids surrounding them to become more acidic and, reacting to this, the robot changes shape and opens it's 'mouth' discharging chemotherapy drugs contained inside.
The microscopic robots (pictured), which are one-hundredth of a millimetre in size, have been made my Chinese scientists using a special 3D printing technique, from a gel that changes shape when exposed to different pH levels
They have only been tested in petri dishes so far and the experts say, before they are put into use, the robots would have be made even smaller.
At present, chemo drugs are injected into body and travel through the circulation freely, killing cancer cells but also causing 'collateral damage' to healthy cells – and side effects, such as hair loss.
The robots might offer a more precise way to administer these drugs, said the researchers.
