Stimuli-responsive hydrogels are promising candidates for use in the targeted delivery of drugs using microrobotics. These devices enable the delivery and sustained release of quantities of drugs several times greater than their dry weight and are responsive to external stimuli. However, existing systems have two major drawbacks: (1) severe drug leakage before reaching the targeted areas within the body and (2) impeded locomotion through liquids due to the inherent hydrophilicity of hydrogels. This article outlines an approach to the assembly of hydrogel-based microcapsules in which one device is assembled within another to prevent drug leakage during transport. Inspired by the famous Russian stacking dolls (Matryoshka), the proposed scheme not only improves drug-loading efficiency but also facilitates the movement of hydrogel-based microcapsules driven by an external magnetic field. At room temperature, drug leakage from the hydrogel matrix is 90%. However, at body temperature the device folds up and assembles to encapsulate the drug, thereby reducing leakage to a mere 6%. The Matryoshka-inspired micro-origami capsule (MIMC) can disassemble autonomously when it arrives at a targeted site, where the temperature is slightly above body temperature. Up to 30% of the encapsulated drug was shown to diffuse from the hydrogel matrix within 1 h when it unfolds and disassembles. The MIMC is also shown to enhance the movement of magnetically driven microcapsules while navigating through media with a low Reynolds number. The translational velocity of the proposed MIMC (four hydrogel-based microcapsules) driven by magnetic gradients is more than three times greater than that of a conventional (single) hydrogel-based microcapsule.
Keywords: controlled drug delivery; hydrogel; microrobotics; reconfigurable structures.