2014年5月26日讯 :长期以来，在纳米载药系统的研究中，载药系统的输送速度是研究人员考量的重要参数。基于这一想法，科学家开发出一系列纳米机器人。现在来自美国德克萨斯大学的研究人员开发出一种被认为可能是目前*小、转运速度*快的分子马达，为人类开发新一代纳米机器人和纳米载药系统提供了新的可能性。根据该团队发表在Nature Communications上的结果显示，这些分子马达可以持续运行长达15h，是目前已知在该尺寸分子马达上*快的。研究热源利用这种分子马达包载胰岛素和****发现，这种分子马达旋转越快，则**分子释放越快。下一步工作人员希望考察这种纳米载药系统与细胞的相互作用情况以及相关药效学评价。
详细英文报道：
Mobility is an important function of any drug-delivering robot--even a well-designed machine that ultimately can't get where it's needed serves little to no purpose. To this end, researchers have developed a wide range of innovative devices from microrockets to DNA propellers tosperm-driven robots.
Now, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have built what promises to be the smallest, fastest and longest running synthetic motor yet made, according to a report from the university. And although they haven't incorporated them into delivery devices currently, these motors could one day find their way into the smallest nanorobots still in development.
The mechanical engineers created a three-part nanomotor that uses biochemicals to pump itself (and any vehicle attached to it) through liquids, the team published in the journal Nature Communications. And with these mechanisms in place, the motor can run for up to 15 hours at 18,000 rotations per minute, much faster than any others of its size.
For drug delivery, the team envisions its nanomotor carrying vehicles for insulin or cancer drugs. To test this capability, they coated the motor with chemicals to mimic the release of drugs, and the faster the motor spun, the faster it released the chemicals.
"We were able to establish and control the molecule release rate by mechanical rotation, which means our nanomotor is the first of its kind for controlling the release of drugs from the surface of nanoparticles," lead author Donglei Fan said in a statement. "We believe it will help advance the study of drug delivery and cell-to-cell communications."
The next step is to use the minuscule motors near a live cell to see how they interact and to measure the release of chemicals in a treatment scenario.