Drag Delivery

Advances in bioinspired and biohybrid robotics are enabling the creation of multifunctional systems able to explore complex unstructured environments. Inspired by Avena fruits, a biohybrid miniaturized autonomous machine (HybriBot) composed of a biomimetic biodegradable capsule as cargo delivery system and natural humidity-driven sister awns as biological motors is reported. Microcomputed tomography, molding via two-photon polymerization and casting of natural awns into biodegradable materials is employed to fabricate multiple HybriBots capable of exploring various soil and navigating soil irregularities, such as holes and cracks...

Computational rhinology is a specialized branch of biomechanics leveraging engineering techniques for mathematical modelling and simulation to complement the medical field of rhinology. Computational rhinology has already contributed significantly to advancing our understanding of the nasal function, including airflow patterns, mucosal cooling, particle deposition, and drug delivery, and is foreseen as a crucial element in, e.g., the development of virtual surgery as a clinical, patient-specific decision support tool...

Interactions between nanoparticles and the mucus layer are crucial to understand the behaviours in biological environments and design drug delivery systems. In this study, we developed a kinetic deposition model for the dynamic mucin-nanoparticle interactions using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D). We investigated the effects of the physiochemical properties of several nanoparticles (including size, charge, and shape) and the physiological conditions on the mucin-nanoparticle interaction...

The development of 3D spiral microfluidics has opened new avenues for leveraging inertial focusing to analyze small fluid volumes, thereby advancing research across chemical, physical, and biological disciplines. While traditional straight microchannels rely solely on inertial lift forces, the novel spiral geometry generates Dean drag forces, eliminating the necessity for external fields in fluid manipulation. Nevertheless, fabricating 3D spiral microfluidics remains a labor-intensive and costly endeavor, hindering its widespread adoption...

INTRODUCTION: Gaucher's disease (GD) is a rare lysosomal storage disease. It is characterized by the deposition of glucocerebroside in cells of the macrophage-monocyte system. GD presents a broad clinical expression, including hematologic abnormalities (such as pancytopenia), massive hepatosplenomegaly, diffuse infiltrative pulmonary disease, renal involvement in the form of nephropathy and glomerulonephritis, skeletal involvement in the form of bone pain, bony infarct, osteopenia, and pathological fracture...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) ultimately leads to a reduction in the cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen due to ischemia. Previously, we showed that 2 ppm i.v. of drag-reducing polymers (DRP) improve hemodynamic and oxygen delivery to tissue in a rat model of mild-to-moderate TBI. Here we evaluated sex-specific and dose-dependent effects of DRP on microvascular CBF (mvCBF) and tissue oxygenation in rats after moderate TBI. In vivo two-photon laser scanning microscopy over the rat parietal cortex was used to monitor the effects of DRP on microvascular perfusion, tissue oxygenation, and blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability...

This study compares two kinds of magnetic microbeads with different surface features and cell entry pathways, aiming to provide insights into how to program their cell uptake and intracellular fate. We found that a rougher surface enhanced the cell uptake of the microbeads, regardless of whether they were pulled by a magnetic field gradient or adsorbed by the cell membrane. However, the entry route affected the intracellular localization of the microbeads: the magnetically dragged microbeads reached the cytoplasm, while the adsorbed microbeads stayed in the late endosomes and lysosomes...

SIGNIFICANCE: Plasmo-thermo-electrophoresis (PTEP) involves using plasmonic microstructures to generate both a large-scale convection current and a near-field attraction force (thermo-electrophoresis). These effects facilitate the collective locomotion (i.e., swarming) of microscale particles in suspension, which can be utilized for numerous applications, such as particle/cell manipulation and targeted drug delivery. However, to date, PTEP for ensemble manipulation has not been well characterized, meaning its potential is yet to be realized...

The major shortcoming of aqueous calcium phosphate suspensions used in biomedical applications is their unstable flow during delivery by mechanical means. In this study, microstructural changes and the resulting flow instabilities of aqueous β-TCP suspensions are demonstrated under both pressure-induced and drag-induced flow regimes and then remedied with the incorporation and subsequent gelling and preshearing of Carbopol 940, a biocompatible hydrogel. Mixing and dispersion of calcium phosphate particles into the hydrogel matrix was not efficient under simple agitation conditions...

Since long before the first approval of gene therapy for retinal disease, ocular gene therapy has captured the hopes of patients, clinicians, and scientists alike. Indeed, the retina provides a unique system for studying and treating ocular diseases, and it holds the distinction as the first tissue targeted by an approved gene therapy for inherited disorders in the United States. There are many methods for addressing genetic diseases in the eyes using a wide range of potential delivery systems and vectors. However, despite the immense progress over the last several decades, both old and new challenges remain, such as the long-term effects of treatments, immunogenicity, targeting, and manufacturing...

Vaccine technology is still facing challenges regarding some infectious diseases, which can be addressed by innovative drug delivery systems. In particular, nanoparticle-based vaccines combined with new types of adjuvants are actively explored as a platform for improving the efficacy and durability of immune protection. Here, biodegradable nanoparticles carrying an antigenic model of HIV were formulated with two combinations of poloxamers, 188/407, presenting or not presenting gelling properties, respectively...

Self-propelled Janus colloids (JCs) have recently gained much attention due to their ability to move autonomously and mimic biological microswimmers. This ability makes them suitable for prospective drug/cargo-delivery applications in microscopic domains. Understanding their dynamics in surroundings doped with macromolecules such as polymers is crucial, as most of the target application media are complex in nature. In this study, we investigate the self-diffusiophoretic motion of hydrogen peroxide-fuelled SiO2 -Pt JCs in the presence of dilute amounts of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)...

Synthetic self-propelled nano and microparticles have a growing appeal for targeted drug delivery, collective functionality, and manipulation at the nanoscale. However, it is challenging to control their positions and orientations under confinement, e.g., in microchannels, nozzles, and microcapillaries. This study reports on the synergistic effect of acoustic and flow-induced focusing in microfluidic nozzles. In a microchannel with a nozzle, the balance between the acoustophoretic forces and the fluid drag due to streaming flows generated by the acoustic field controls the microparticle's dynamics...

The sandwich stent technique is a commonly used method to preserve unilateral internal iliac artery flow when treating iliac artery aneurysm. In this case, covered stent grafts (Viabahn, Gore) were used to build the iliac limb of a sandwich stent. However, if Viabahn is released without long sheath protection, the trigger wire is easily wound on another stent, resulting in the Viabahn delivery system being inseparable from the stent. If we drag it forcefully, it would easily cause the entire sandwich stent graft to shift or even fall into the thoracic aorta...

Currently, the air pollution and the respiratory disease problems that affect human health are increasing rapidly. Hence, there is attention for trend prediction of the located deposition of inhaled particles. In this study, Weibel's based human airway model (G0-G5) was employed. The computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method (CFD-DEM) simulation was successfully validated by comparison to the previous research studies. The CFD-DEM achieves a better balance between numerical accuracy and computational requirement when comparing with the other methods...

The hydrophilic/hydrophobic cooperative interface provides a smart platform to control liquid distribution and delivery. Through the fusion of flexibility and complex structure, we present a manipulable, open, and dual-layered liquid channel (MODLC) for on-demand mechanical control of fluid delivery. Driven by anisotropic Laplace pressure, the mechano-controllable asymmetric channel of MODLC can propel the directional slipping of liquid located between the paired tracks. Upon a single press, the longest transport distance can reach 10 cm with an average speed of ∼3 cm/s...

Electroporation, a method relying on a pulsed electric field to induce transient cell membrane permeabilization, can be used as a non-viral method to transfer genes in vitro and in vivo. Such transfer holds great promise for cancer treatment, as it can induce or replace missing or non-functioning genes. Yet, while efficient in vitro, gene-electrotherapy remains challenging in tumors. To assess the differences of gene electrotransfer in respect to applied pulses in multi-dimensional (2D, 3D) cellular organizations, we herein compared pulsed electric field protocols applicable to electrochemotherapy and gene electrotherapy and different "High Voltage-Low Voltage" pulses...

The beating of cilia and flagella, which relies on an efficient conversion of energy from ATP-hydrolysis into mechanical work, offers a promising way to propel synthetic cargoes. Recent experimental realizations of such micro-swimmers, in which micron-sized beads are propelled by isolated and demembranated flagella from the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (C. reinhardtii), revealed a variety of propulsion modes, depending in particular on the calcium concentration. Here, we investigate theoretically and numerically the propulsion of a bead as a function of the flagellar waveform and the attachment geometries between the bead and the flagellum...

At present, most vascular intervention robots cannot cope with the more common coronary complex lesions in the clinic. Moreover, the lack of effective force feedback increases the risk of surgery. In this paper, a vascular interventional robot that can collaboratively deliver multiple interventional instruments has been developed to assist doctors in the operation of complex lesions. Based on the doctor's skills and the delivery principle of interventional instruments, the main and slave manipulators of the robot system are designed...

Recent experiments by Doan et al. ( Nano Lett. , 2021, 21 , 7625-7630) demonstrated and measured colloid diffusiophoresis in porous media but existing theories cannot predict the observed colloid motion. Here, using regular perturbation method, we develop a mathematical model that can predict the diffusiophoretic motion of a charged colloidal particle driven by a binary monovalent electrolyte concentration gradient in a porous medium. The porous medium is modeled as a Brinkman medium with a constant Darcy permeability...