Bioinspired microrobots capable of actively moving in biological fluids have attracted considerable attention for biomedical applications because of their unique dynamic features that are otherwise difficult to achieve by their static counterparts. Here we use click chemistry to attach antibiotic-loaded neutrophil membrane-coated polymeric nanoparticles to natural microalgae, thus creating hybrid microrobots for the active delivery of antibiotics in the lungs in vivo. The microrobots show fast speed (>110 µm s⁻¹) in simulated lung fluid and uniform distribution into deep lung tissues, low clearance by alveolar macrophages and superb tissue retention time (>2 days) after intratracheal administration to test animals. In a mouse model of acute Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia, the microrobots effectively reduce bacterial burden and substantially lessen animal mortality, with negligible toxicity. Overall, these findings highlight the attractive functions of algae–nanoparticle hybrid microrobots for the active in vivo delivery of therapeutics to the lungs in intensive care unit settings.

能够在生物液体中主动移动的仿生微型机器人因其独特的动态特征而在生物医学应用中引起了相当大的关注，而这些动态特征是静态机器人难以实现的。在这里，我们使用点击化学将载有抗生素的嗜中性粒细胞膜包被的聚合物纳米粒子附着到天然微藻上，从而创造出用于在体内肺部主动输送抗生素的混合微型机器人。微型机器人在模拟肺液中表现出快速 (>110 µm s -1 ) 并均匀分布到深部肺组织中，肺泡巨噬细胞的清除率低，并且在气管内对测试动物进行给药后组织保留时间极佳 (>2 天) ^。在急性铜绿假单胞菌小鼠模型中肺炎，微型机器人有效地减少了细菌负担并大大降低了动物死亡率，毒性可以忽略不计。总的来说，这些发现突出了藻类-纳米颗粒混合微型机器人在重症监护病房环境中主动向肺部输送治疗药物的吸引人的功能。