Micro- and NanoBiomedical Engineering Group (MNBE), Institute for Emerging Electronic Technologies, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research (IFW), 01069, Dresden, Germany.
Research Center for Materials, Architectures and Integration of Nanomembranes (MAIN), Chemnitz University of Technology, 09126, Chemnitz, Germany.
Small. 2024 Jun;20(23):e2310288. doi: 10.1002/smll.202310288. Epub 2023 Dec 27.
Biohybrid micromotors are active microscopic agents consisting of biological and synthetic components that are being developed as novel tools for biomedical applications. By capturing motile sperm cells within engineered microstructures, they can be controlled remotely while being propelled forward by the flagellar beat. This makes them an interesting tool for reproductive medicine that can enable minimally invasive sperm cell delivery to the oocyte in vivo, as a treatment for infertility. The generation of sperm-based micromotors in sufficiently large numbers, as they are required in biomedical applications has been challenging, either due to the employed fabrication techniques or the stability of the microstructure-sperm coupling. Here, biohybrid micromotors, which can be assembled in a fast and simple process using magnetic microparticles, are presented. These magnetotactic sperm cells show a high motility and swimming speed and can be transferred between different environments without large detrimental effects on sperm motility and membrane integrity. Furthermore, clusters of micromotors are assembled magnetically and visualized using dual ultrasound (US)/photoacoustic (PA) imaging. Finally, a protocol for the scaled-up assembly of micromotors and their purification for use in in vitro fertilization (IVF) is presented, bringing them closer to their biomedical implementation.
生物杂交微型马达是由生物和合成组件组成的主动微观制剂，它们被开发为用于生物医学应用的新型工具。通过在工程微结构中捕获运动的精子细胞，可以在通过鞭毛拍打向前推进的同时远程控制它们。这使它们成为生殖医学的一种有趣工具，可以实现对体内卵母细胞的微创精子细胞输送，作为治疗不孕不育的一种方法。由于所采用的制造技术或微结构-精子偶联的稳定性，以足够大的数量生成基于精子的微型马达一直具有挑战性，这是生物医学应用所需要的。此处，提出了可以使用磁性微颗粒快速且简单地组装的生物杂交微型马达。这些趋磁精子细胞表现出高的运动性和游泳速度，并且可以在不同的环境之间转移，而对精子运动性和膜完整性没有大的不利影响。此外，使用双超声（US）/光声（PA）成像可以磁性组装并可视化微马达的簇。最后，提出了用于大规模组装微马达及其用于体外受精（IVF）的纯化的方案，使其更接近生物医学应用。
