IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-59650-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Chemotactic Zn micromotor for treatment of high blood ammonia-associated hepatic encephalopathy

Author

Listed:
  • Ye Feng

    (Sun Yat-sen University)

  • Chao Gao

    (Sun Yat-sen University)

  • Xiuyun Peng

    (Lishui People’s Hospital)

  • Bin Chen

    (Sun Yat-sen University)

  • Miaomiao Ding

    (Sun Yat-sen University)

  • Dailing Du

    (Sun Yat-sen University)

  • Jinghui Rong

    (Sun Yat-sen University)

  • Qi Lv

    (Sun Yat-sen University)

  • Daniela A. Wilson

    (Radboud University)

  • Yingfeng Tu

    (Southern Medical University)

  • Fei Peng

    (Sun Yat-sen University)

Abstract

Hepatic fibrosis involves hepatocyte damage, causing blood ammonia accumulation, which exacerbates liver pathology and crosses the blood-brain barrier, inducing hepatic encephalopathy. It is meaningful to construct a therapeutic platform for targeted ammonia clearance. In this work, a biocompatible water-powered Zn micromotor is constructed as an ammonia chemotaxis platform, which can be actuated by the water splitting reaction and the self-generated Zn2+ gradient. It can propel towards NH3·H2O source through the formation of complex ions [Zn(NH3)1](OH)+ and [Zn(NH3)2](OH)+, representing a generalizable chemotaxis strategy via coordination reaction. In vivo, biomimetic collective behavior allows precise navigation and reduction of the intrahepatic ammonia level, reshaping the pathological microenvironment. This mechanism, operating in a green, zero-waste manner, facilitates integration of these micromotors into the domain of biological regulation. Such environment environment-adaptive platform is favorable for targeted treatment of hepatic fibrosis and hepatic encephalopathy caused by hyperammonemia, which is expected to provide inspiration for future personalized and precision medicine.

Suggested Citation

  • Ye Feng & Chao Gao & Xiuyun Peng & Bin Chen & Miaomiao Ding & Dailing Du & Jinghui Rong & Qi Lv & Daniela A. Wilson & Yingfeng Tu & Fei Peng, 2025. "Chemotactic Zn micromotor for treatment of high blood ammonia-associated hepatic encephalopathy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59650-0
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59650-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-59650-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-59650-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Remy Colin & Knut Drescher & Victor Sourjik, 2019. "Chemotactic behaviour of Escherichia coli at high cell density," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Bradley D. Frank & Saveh Djalali & Agata W. Baryzewska & Paolo Giusto & Peter H. Seeberger & Lukas Zeininger, 2022. "Reversible morphology-resolved chemotactic actuation and motion of Janus emulsion droplets," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-12, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      More about this item

      Statistics

      Access and download statistics

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-59650-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.