Micro‐/Nanorobots in Antimicrobial Applications: Recent Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities

Abstract

The evolution of drug‐resistant pathogenic bacteria remains one of the most urgent threats to public health worldwide. Even worse, the bacterial cells commonly form biofilms through aggregation and adhesion, preventing antibiotic penetration and resisting environmental stress. Moreover, biofilms tend to grow in some hard‐to‐reach regions, bringing difficulty for antibiotic delivery at the infected site. The drug‐resistant pathogenic bacteria and intractable biofilm give rise to chronic and recurrent infections, exacerbating the challenge in combating bacterial infections. Micro/nanorobots (MNRs) are capable of active cargo delivery, targeted treatment with high precision, and motion‐assisted mechanical force, which enable transport and enhance penetration of antibacterial agents into the targeted site, thus showing great promise in emerging as an attractive alternative to conventional antibacterial therapies. This review summarizes the recent advances in micro‐/nanorobots for antibacterial applications, with emphasis on those novel strategies for drug‐resistance bacterium and stubborn biofilm infections. Insights on the future development of MNRs with good functionality and biosafety offer promising approaches to address infections in the clinic setting.

Nanorobots with Hybrid Biomembranes for Simultaneous Degradation of Toxic Microorganism

“…As a result, restraining enzymes upon an exterior of the particles or adhering enzymes to either strong support can result in self-propelled vehicles or fluid motors with a wide range of interesting uses. Self-propelled cruise missile micromotors have been developed using metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), which compress cells also as generators and poly ethyl methacrylate such as hydrophobic/hydrophilic sequence element, pH-responsive, resulting in rising and down-vertical movement managed by resistance [21]. On catalysis and urease-coated lipid nanoparticles engines, colleagues observed both positively and negatively cell migration.…”

Smart dental materials for antimicrobial applications

“…Using micro/nanobots in medicine and dentistry provides a new futuristic alternative for disease treatment. Micro/nanobots are machines at the micro- and nano-scale that can perform multiple specific tasks such as sensing, diagnostic, delivery, and detoxification through autonomous or external-powered propulsion [ 319 , 320 ]. Micro/nanobots have been evaluated successfully for drug targeting delivery [ 321 ], diagnosis [ 322 ], imaging [ 323 ], and cancer detection [ 324 ].…”

“…Micro/nanobots have multiple advantages compared to other smart systems, such as the possibility of delivering information in real-time for proper diagnosis and treatment, encapsulation of functional elements (i.e., antimicrobial agents, growth factors), non-invasive intervention, and reduced side effects [ 326 , 327 ]. As antimicrobial therapy, micro/nanorobots can deliver antimicrobial agents in specific locations, offer targeted treatment, and enhance penetration of antibacterial agents into the targeted site or biofilms, thus showing great promise in emerging as an attractive alternative to conventional antibacterial therapies [ 319 ]. For example, Arqué et al (2022) created silica-based robots loaded with cationic AMPs (i.e., LL-37 and K7-Pol) for biofilm eradication [ 328 ].…”

Endoscope-assisted magnetic helical micromachine delivery for biofilm eradication in tympanostomy tube

“…The biofilm formation in the T-tube contributes to otorrhea and debris deposition, which, in turn, blocks the T-tube. In addition, the dense biofilms render the occlusions more challenging to clear ( 8 , 9 ). More commonly, the T-tube needs to be removed, leaving the potential need for reinsertion of a new T-tube surgically in the case of recurrent otitis media with effusion.…”