Tiny robots remove pneumonia from rat lungs, promising similar treatment in humans

Scientists have led a swarm of microscopic swimming robots to eliminate pneumonia germs in mice, promising to develop a similar treatment for deadly bacterial pneumonia in humans.

The microbes consist of algal cells and are coated with a layer of antibiotic nanoparticles.

Algae provide movement through the lungs, which is key to targeting and treatment effectiveness.

In experiments, all infections in mice treated with algae machines were eliminated, while all untreated mice died within three days.

“Based on this mouse data, we see that microbots can improve antibiotic penetration to kill bacterial pathogens and save the lives of more patients,” said Victor Nesette, professor of pediatrics at the University of California , San Diego.

The nanoparticles in the algal cells are made of tiny polymer spheres covered by the membranes of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell.

These membranes neutralize inflammatory particles produced by bacteria and the body’s immune system, and both nanoparticles and algae naturally degrade.

In doing so, harmful inflammation is reduced, infection control is improved, and the microbots can swim and deliver the treatment wherever it’s needed – the precision that makes this technique so powerful.

Scientists have also shown that microbial therapy is more effective than intravenous antibiotics, and in fact the injection dose must be 3,000 times higher than the dose loaded into the algae cells to achieve the same effect in rats.

“These results show how targeted drug delivery combined with the energetic action of microalgae improves therapeutic efficacy,” explains Joseph Wang, a nanoengineer at the University of California at San Diego.

The pneumonia caused by the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa used in this study occurs in humans after ventilator placement in the intensive care unit. Infection often prolongs hospital stay and greatly increases the risk of death.

The scientists seem confident that their new method can be scaled up as needed and easily applied to the lungs of ventilated patients (the microbes were delivered to the mice through a tube in the windpipe).

The team’s next step is to do more research on how microbes interact with the immune system, then scale up the business and prepare it for testing in larger animals and eventually in humans.

“Our goal is to deliver targeted drugs to more vulnerable parts of the body, such as the lungs. And we want to make it safe,” said chemical engineer Liang Fang Zhang of the University of California, San Diego. It is easy, biocompatible, and long-lasting, which we have shown in this study.”

The full study was published in the journal Nature Materials.

Source: Science Alert