UC San Diego

Active transport of gas molecules is critical to preserve the physiological functions of organisms. Oxygen, as the most essential gas molecule, plays significant roles in maintaining the metabolism and viability of cells. Herein, we report a nanomotor-based delivery system that combines the fast propulsion of acoustically propelled gold nanowire nanomotors (AuNW) with the high oxygen carrying capacity of red blood cell membrane-cloaked perfluorocarbon nanoemulsions (RBC-PFC) for active intracellular delivery of oxygen. The oxygen delivery capacity and kinetics of the AuNW nanomotors carrying RBC-PFC (denoted as "Motor-PFC") are examined under ultrasound field. Specifically, the fast movement of the Motor-PFC under an acoustic field accelerates intracellular delivery of oxygen to J774 macrophage cells. Upon entering the cells, the oxygen loaded in the Motor-PFC is sustainably released, which maintains the cell viability when cultured under hypoxic conditions. The acoustically propelled Motor-PFC leads to significantly higher cell viability (84.4%) over a 72 h period, compared to control samples with free RBC-PFC (44.4%) or to passive Motor-PFC (32.7%). These results indicate that the Motor-PFC can act as an effective delivery vehicle for active intracellular oxygen transport. While oxygen is used here as a model gas molecule, the Motor-PFC platform can be readily expanded to the active delivery of other gas molecules to various target cells.