Move chart illustrating the mechanism of motion of the tapeworm-inspired tissue anchoring mechanism. Upon contact with a tissue floor (on this case, the intestinal lining), the small protruding set off posts (high proper picture) are depressed, quickly deploying the curved array of hooks which penetrate the tissue floor (proper backside three photographs). Credit score: Harvard SEAS
Ingestible units are sometimes used to check and deal with hard-to-reach tissues within the physique. Swallowed in tablet kind, these capsules can cross via the digestive tract, snapping photographs or delivering medicine.
Whereas of their easiest kind, these units are passively transported via the intestine, there are a variety of purposes the place it’s your decision a tool to connect to the tissue or different versatile supplies. A wealthy historical past of biologically impressed options exist to handle this want, starting from cocklebur-inspired Velcro to slug-inspired medical adhesives, however the creation of on-demand and reversible attachment mechanisms that may be included into millimeter-scale units for biomedical sensing and diagnostics stays a problem.
A brand new interdisciplinary effort led by Robert Wooden, the Harry Lewis and Marlyn McGrath Professor of Engineering and Utilized Sciences within the Harvard John A. Paulson Faculty of Engineering and Utilized Sciences (SEAS), and James Weaver, of Harvard’s Wyss Institute, has drawn inspiration from an sudden supply: the world of parasites.
“Parasitic species have a rather dubious reputation with the general public due to their often terrifying body forms and unfamiliar lifecycles that seem straight out of science fiction movies,” mentioned Weaver.
“Despite this fact, it is important to realize that these species are particularly well adapted for anchoring into a wide range of different host tissue types using a remarkably diverse set of species- and tissue-specific attachment organs. These features make them ideal model systems for the development of application-specific synthetic tissue anchoring mechanisms for biomedical applications.”
A comparability between the tapeworm deployable hook array that offered the motivation for the current research (left two photographs), and the ensuing millimeter-scale engineering analog (proper two photographs). Credit score: Harvard SEAS
“Mimicking both the morphology and functionality of these complex biological structures is an incredibly challenging problem, and requires expertise from a wide range of fields including robotics, microfabrication, medical device design, and invertebrate zoology,” mentioned Wooden.
The analysis is revealed in PNAS Nexus.
To imitate the round hook-like attachment organ present in a number of species of intestinal tapeworms as an preliminary proof of idea, the researchers used a multi-material, layer-by-layer fabrication technique impressed by the printed circuit board trade. One of many key design options of the mechanism is its radially symmetrical structure, which allowed for the creation of a biologically correct vary of movement from easy flat elements.
“Employing relatively simple linkage mechanisms allows for the use of laminate manufacturing processes, which offers several advantages over conventional fabrication approaches,” mentioned Gabriel Maquignaz, a visiting graduate pupil from the Swiss Federal Know-how Institute of Lausanne, and the paper’s first writer.
“For example, the devices can be manufactured flat and then quickly and easily folded into their final 3D geometries using a largely automated pop-up book-like process,” mentioned Mike Karpelson, a senior workers electrical engineer at SEAS and an knowledgeable on this fabrication workflow.
Excessive-speed video (8000 frames per second) displaying hook deployment within the tapeworm-inspired mechanism. Usually this could happen as soon as the gadget contacts a tissue floor, however for readability, right here it was triggered from above with a pair of forceps. Your complete deployment course of takes lower than 1 millisecond. Credit score: Harvard SEAS
Moreover, resulting from its fast turnaround time and the small dimension of the fabricated units, this manufacturing strategy gives a low-waste prototyping technique through the gadget analysis and growth phases.
The ultimate gadget design accommodates inflexible chrome steel structural elements adhesively bonded to polymer hinges. Your complete gadget measures lower than 5 millimeters in diameter when deployed and weighs solely 44 micrograms. When it is available in contact with a tissue floor, a set off mechanism is activated which causes the anchoring hooks to rotate out and penetrate the adjoining mushy tissue.
Since every hook follows a curved trajectory, it solely punctures the pores and skin instantly alongside the trail of penetration—identical to tapeworm hooks—inflicting minimal tissue injury. Due to the gadget’s small dimension and its built-in elastomer spring, the hooks could be deployed in lower than 1 millisecond.
The authors additional add that because of the relative simplicity and adaptableness of this manufacturing technique, the fabricated units could possibly be additional scaled down in dimension for future iterations.
“We’re really excited about applying the lessons learned from these studies to further broaden the design space to include other parasitic body plans, and other biological tissues and therapeutic applications,” mentioned Rachel Zoll, a doctoral candidate at SEAS specializing in biomedical gadget design, and the article’s second writer.
“One of the most intriguing aspects of this research effort is that it provides a much-needed experimental testbed for exploring how parasite holdfast anatomy influences human pathology at the point of attachment,” mentioned Armand Kuris, a parasitology professor at UC Santa Barbara, who was not concerned within the research. “This represents a largely unexplored aspect of medical parasitology, and I’m eager to see where this research leads.”
Past the biomedical purposes that have been the first focus of the article, the authors additionally envision the utilization of this know-how in non-medical purposes starting from reversibly adhesive tags for wildlife monitoring, to sensing platforms for textile-based supplies.
Extra data:
Gabriel Maquignaz et al. Design and fabrication of a parasite-inspired, millimeter-scale tissue anchoring mechanism, PNAS Nexus (2024). DOI: 10.1093/pnasnexus/pgae495. educational.oup.com/pnasnexus/artwork … 93/pnasnexus/pgae495
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