Nanomotors In The Field of Medicine

Achyuth Murlei

INTRODUCTION
While traditional medicine may comprise of studying and analysing biochemical interactions
between the cells and drugs with practitioners conducting surgeries, the advancement of
technology and artificial intelligence implies a definite entanglement between the two fields of
sciences. Robot-assisted surgeries have been long used to have access to tender and fine parts
of the human body a human might falter in, increase precision, decreased margin of error,
decreased blood loss and faster healing time. While the technology is still looked upon through
a critical lens, a pattern of improvements only ensures a more robust contraption in the years
to come. Moving away from the macro-technology, several methods of transporting medicines
and medicinal observation have been conducted by micro and nanotechnology using miniature
robots to facilitate the same. Nanomotors, more specifically, optical nanomotors that use light
as a means to control the machine are one of the latest inventions used in the field of medicine
to carry out position-sensitive and volume restricted tasks with the quickest and least invasive
manner.

Figure 1. A pictorial representation of the scale of particles ranging from 1 micrometre to 1 nanometre; from left to right:
water molecules, enzyme, virus, bacteria with flagella [7]

WHAT ARE NANOMOTORS?

Motors are devices that act as source of mechanical energy by means of converting another
form of energy to produce a physical output. Nano or Micro, as the name suggests, imply that
the dimensions of the motor are in the order between 10 -9 to 10-6 metres. Nanotechnology is
the field of science that looks to work with matter on an atomic scale. Machines that are capable
of real-world tasks in the macro-world are designed such that they can perform the same tasks
in dimensions infinitesimally smaller, imperceivable to human senses. A large part of the tasks
of nanomachines are to infiltrate deep into systems a traditional machine cannot and therefore,
making self-mobility very key to a successful project. Mobility has been implemented in
several ways by converting light, heat, electro-magnetic fields, and chemical reactions to
mechanical energy. One such novel example is the use of the surrounding pH levels in a human
body to automatically adjust buoyancy. Gas bubbles released or retained as a function of local
acidity determine the movement of the nanomotor and this continuous evaluation results in
autonomous movement. In other cases, a Magnetic field was used to control and move a
nanobot inside a cell. The nanobot was fashioned from silica with a layer or iron on top to
conduct the external magnetic field. The nanobot was made to resemble a corkscrew which
spins forward and turn according to the angle of the magnetic field provided. More recently,
the usage of light to guide the nanobots has caused increased excitement in the scientific
community.

Figure 2. The milestones for the development process of light-powered MNMs; American Chemical Society [3]

More recently, optical methods are used to control nanomotors within a cell. Light is naturally
obtained and is renewable, and therefore a viable source to build nanomotors around. Optical
nanomotors have seen innovation since the 1980s, beginning with the isomerization (changing
the chemical structure) of azobenzene under ultraviolet radiation. This evolved into
optofluidics when light-pressure or radiation-pressure was used to obtain motion in fluids and
this was succeeded by solid state motors in the current generation where a gradient in light
energy is used to induce rotation by shifting the axis of symmetry with respect to the angle of
the beam. The intensity of the light beam can be controlled to hasten, slow down or reverse the
spinning of the motor by controlling the wavelength and intensity of the light used. Using light
as a means offers more stable and uniform movement of the nanomotor since the varying
environment in a cell or human body may lead to taking other factors taking over the movement
of the nanomotor. Instead of trying to manipulate light, which is an expensive affair, scientists
have invented a particle that responds to simple light in several ways. This marked the birth of
Janus, a two-faced particle used in optical nanomachinery. This simulation is a landmark
innovation which will lead to it becoming mainstream in several sectors of science.
A team of scientists from the University of Tokyo have designed a nanomotor whose movement
is sourced by a LASER. These machines made from gold nanorods are not restrictedto the path
of the LASER but use orientation to guide themselves in the presence of the same, much like
how a boat uses its mast to manoeuvre in the presence of wind. The motion is due to the
scattering of light by surface plasmon resonance on the surface of the nanorods or the
phenomenon of excitement of surface electrons when light interacts with it at certain prescribed
angles. The architecture of the nanorod is very crucial to promote movement through scattering.
Using this technique, scientists seek to use unfocused or regular light to navigate nanomotors.
NANOMOTORS IN MEDICINE
A. DETECTING CANCER
Nanomachinery are key in many sectors of science, chief among them being the field of
medicine and surgery. Due to the sensitive tissues of a living organism, invasive surgeries are
often not practicable, even possible. Nanomotors are often employed to explore or interact with
targeted cells to achieve a set of goals previously impossible or theoretical. One of the major
uses of nanomotors are as probes to detect cancer cells. A team of scientists from the Indian
Institute of Science used magnet-driven nanomotors to observe and map changes in an
environment infected by the tumour model that imitated the condition of a tissue affected by
breast cancer. The nanomotor detects a suspected cancer-affected region by interacting with
the local ECM or extracellular matrix – an array of protein and carbohydrate secreted by cells.
It was observed that the secretion of ECM by cancer cells disrupted the environment chemically
and physically and was more adhesive with the nanomotor compared to other healthy cells,
indicating the presence of cancer cells. This was confirmed by coating one nanomotor with
Perfluorooctyltriethoxysilane (PFO), a chemical used to repel the adhesion as test and the other
without a coat. It was observed that nanomotors covered with PFO did not stick to the secretion
while the uncoated counterpart did. This method can be used to identify and target cancer-
specific cells that exist in the midst of regular cells.

Figure 3. Nanomotor used to identify Cancer cells; NC: Non-Cancerous Cell; CC: Cancerous Cell; Credit: Debayan Dasgupta
[4]
B. DRUG DELIVERY

The idea of targeted and optimized delivery of drugs has always been shown importance
by the pharmaceutical industry, biomedicine, and tissue engineering. This is to avoid
consuming large volumes of medicine, combat inefficient reach of the drug, and
circumvent healthy cells of the body to provide medication to areas that require it.
Nanotechnology can be used to achieve the above goals and ensure deeper penetration of
tissues out of reach by current procedures, enhanced solubility, delivering multiple drugs
and facilitate controlled release of medication. Propulsion and navigation of nanomotors
are two key factors for a successful drug-delivery system. While catalytic motors were
given impetus, there was a need to devise a fuel-free system to automate movement of
the nanomotors. This brought into picture the requirement of magnetic waves, acoustics,
and light mechanism to ensure autonomous motion of the nanomotor.

Figure 4. Transport and release of PLGA (poly lactic-co-glycolic acid) drug carriers by catalytic nanowire motors;
produced from ref. 34, Wiley 2010 [2]

In Figure 4, a pictorial representation of the drug by the nanomotor is shown from pick-up to
release of the PLGA (a polymer used to carry the drug) using a nanoshuttle. Nanotechnology
in drug delivery is work-in-progress and while there is no formal review yet, there have been
several attempts to build a nanomotor to facilitate the delivery. This will increase precision,
decrease side-effects, and help the therapeutic industry progress.
REFERENCES:

1. Nanomotor guided inside a living cell using a magnetic field

https://phys.org/news/2018-04-nanomotor-cell-magnetic-field.html
2. Synthetic Micro/Nanomotors in drug delivery https://doi.org/10.1039/C4NR03124E

3. Light-Powered Micro/Nanomotors https://doi.org/10.3390/mi9020041

4. Nanomotors as probes to sense cancer environment https://phys.org/news/2020-09-
nanomotors-probes-cancer-environment.html
5. Nanomotors controlled with laser light https://phys.org/news/2020-11-nanomotors-
laser.html
6. Light-driven micro/nanomotors: from fundamentals to applications https://doi-
org.ezproxy.lib.gla.ac.uk/10.1039/C7CS00516D
7. Nanomotors https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2016-60067-1