The journal Advanced Science has published the results of a study conducted in Boston. Appropriately treated tracheal cells become ‘machines’ that are capable of reaching areas of the body in need of repair.
The researchers have called them Anthrobots, combining the Greek root word for ‘man’ with robot, but they’re actually not very robotic at all, apart from in their behaviour. They are in fact human cells from the trachea, which, when properly directed, take on shapes and move in ways that drive them towards specific targets and cause them to encourage the healing processes. They therefore resemble mini robots, but they have no artificial insertions and aren’t genetically modified.
They’ve been developed by researchers at Tufts University in Boston (United States), who explain how they work and who have described their findings in the journal Advanced Science.
Variable shapes and types of movement
The scientists started with tracheal cells, because — to keep the upper airways clean — these cells are equipped with motile cilia that are not a far cry from those found on many bacteria known, indeed, as ciliates. The researchers observed that, once cultured, these cells took on different shapes depending on the composition of the media on which they had been grown. And they harnessed these chemical and physical characteristics.
By doing so, the scientists successfully obtained cells ranging in size from 30 to 500 micrometres (thousandths of a millimetre). These cells took on more or less spherical, irregular or ellipsoidal shapes, with cilia of varying lengths over the entire surface, or with patchy coverage of cilia or cilia on just one side. The cells adopted different types of movement (for example straight, or circular). Then, by acting once again on the media and growth conditions, the scientists forced these cells into close contact, showing that, in this way, they tended to form organoids dubbed superbots, in other words, clusters composed of several dozen cells.
A 'bridge’ between the healthy and damaged parts
The researchers then went on to place the organoids in contact with cultured nerve cells in which wounds had been created. They discovered at that point that the organoids moved in the direction of the damage, as a result of the cilia distribution pattern, thereby encouraging repair.
In the tests, the superbots formed fully-fledged bridges of cells between the healthy and damaged parts, encouraging repair that was completely absent in surrounding areas where there were no superbots. Then, after a couple of months at most, the superbots died and dissolved.
It’s not currently known how they are attracted to the wound (and above all how the subsequent repair phenomena are stimulated), but potential applications are already in sight. Where necessary, modified Anthrobots could be created from the patient’s own cells, to avoid rejection, and sent to areas of the body where injured tissues need repairing (like the retina or spinal cord). What’s more, Anthrobots could be deployed for functions such as clearing cholesterol deposits from the arteries, delivering drugs to targeted sites, or even destroying cancer cells or pathogenic microorganisms.
Safe and do not reproduce
The researchers explained that as these cells are, to all intents and purposes, adult cells, there is no chance of Anthrobots surviving in conditions other than those created in the laboratory, let alone reproducing or mutating genetically. They are therefore considered safe.
Nevertheless, studies are ongoing to verify the full potential (but also any shortcomings) of these ‘human robots’.
