Antibiotics are delivered directly to the lungs through microbots made from algae cells.

Pneumonia is a frequent disease of the lungs. There are several potential causes of pneumonia, but bacterial infections are among the most frequent. People who rely on a mechanical ventilator to breathe have a higher risk of developing certain bacterial illnesses.

However, many current treatment methods restrict the amount of drugs that may reach the lungs, making it difficult to treat pneumonia. Antibiotics given intravenously, for instance, have a lower success rate than those given by mouth because so few of them really make it to the lungs. This results in significant death rates for many of the sickest individuals.

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have found a method that may aid in delivering antibiotics to their intended target: the lungs, which may help meet the unmet demand for effective, targeted therapies for bacterial pneumonia. An paper on their research was just published in Nature Materials.

Scientists drew inspiration from swimming to develop a novel method of delivering therapeutics. Therefore, in this novel strategy, microbots and living algae cells work together to transport medications to the lungs. These microbots were constructed from algal cells modified to include antibiotic-coated polymer spheres on their surfaces. This modification enabled the microbots to destroy various compounds and elicit an anti-inflammatory response.

When it comes to transporting drugs through thick fluids like the mucus that builds up in the lungs of someone with pneumonia, algae cells proved to be the most effective vehicle. All mice treated with the algal microbots survived for up to 30 days after contracting bacterial pneumonia, but untreated animals only made it three days. Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a prevalent cause of pneumonia in humans who need mechanical ventilation, was the cause of pneumonia in all of the mice.

The study group is keeping its fingers crossed that their microbots may open up new treatment options for the most critically ill pneumonia patients.

References: Medgadget and Nature Materials