Herein, we studied localized electroporation and gene transfection of mammalian cells using a metallodielectric hybrid micromotor that is magnetically and electrically powered. Much like nanochannel-based, local electroporation of single cells, the presented micromotor was expected to increase reversible electroporation yield, relative to standard electroporation, as only a small portion of the cell’s membrane (in contact with the micromotor) is affected. In contrast to methods in which the entire membrane of all cells within the sample are electroporated, the presented micromotor can perform, via magnetic steering, localized, spatially precise electroporation of the target cells that it traps and transports. In order to minimize nonselective electrical lysis of all cells within the chamber, resulting from extended exposure to an electrical field, magnetic propulsion was used to approach the immediate vicinity of the targeted cell, after which short-duration, electric-driven propulsion was activated to enable contact with the cell, followed by electroporation. In addition to local injection of fluorescent dye molecules, we demonstrated that the micromotor can enhance the introduction of plasmids into the suspension cells because of the dielectrophoretic accumulation of the plasmids in between the Janus particle and the attached cell prior to the electroporation step. Here, we chose a different strategy involving the simultaneous operation of many micromotors that are self-propelling, without external steering, and pair with cells in an autonomic manner. The locally electroporated suspension cells that are considered to be very difficult to transfect were shown to express the transfected gene, which is of significant importance for molecular biology research.

在此，我们使用磁力和电力驱动的金属电介质混合微电机研究了哺乳动物细胞的局部电穿孔和基因转染。与基于纳米通道的单细胞局部电穿孔非常相似，相对于标准电穿孔，所提出的微电机有望增加可逆电穿孔产量，因为只有一小部分细胞膜（与微电机接触）受到影响。与对样品内所有细胞的整个膜进行电穿孔的方法相比，所提出的微电机可以通过磁转向对其捕获和运输的目标细胞进行局部、空间精确的电穿孔。为了最大限度地减少由于长时间暴露在电场中而导致的室内所有细胞的非选择性电裂解，使用磁推进接近目标细胞，然后激活短时间的电驱动推进以使其能够与细胞接触，然后进行电穿孔。除了荧光染料分子的局部注射之外，我们还证明了微电机可以增强将质粒引入悬浮细胞中，因为在电穿孔步骤之前质粒在 Janus 颗粒和附着细胞之间进行介电泳积累。在这里，我们选择了一种不同的策略，涉及许多自驱动微电机的同时运行，无需外部转向，并以自主方式与细胞配对。被认为很难转染的局部电穿孔悬浮细胞被证明能够表达转染的基因，这对于分子生物学研究具有重要意义。