The battery can create a discharge and self-charging cycle that steadily consumes oxygen in mouse tumours, controlling the oxygen content and pH level of the tumour.
Chinese researchers have created an implantable, self-renewing saltwater battery that aids in the destruction of tumour cells by controlling the environment that promotes the growth of a tumour. On Saturday, the study was published in the journal Science Advances.
It talks about the battery, which, when used in conjunction with a prodrug called tirapazamine, reduced tumour volume by 90% on average over the course of two weeks and eliminated tumours in 4/5 mice.
The electrode redox reaction in batteries served as the inspiration for the Fudan University team’s design of an implantable device made of biocompatible polyimide with a carbonyl base and metallic zinc.
The battery can create a discharge and self-charging cycle that steadily consumes oxygen in mouse tumours, controlling the oxygen content and pH level of the tumour.
It has been demonstrated to enhance tirapazamine’s capacity to kill tumour cells in mice. The prodrug uses tumours’ low oxygen levels to target and kill their hypoxic cells. According to the study, the salt water battery has good plasticity and can be implanted subcutaneously onto the tumour surface to completely cover the tumour.
Zhang Fan, a professor at Fudan University and corresponding author of the paper stated that the study showed that the saltwater battery could be used as an efficient tumour microenvironment regulator for antitumor therapy.
The mice’s body weight, skin, or healthy organs did not change abnormally during treatment, supporting the battery’s in vivo safety.
According to Xia Yongyao, a professor at Fudan University and corresponding author of the paper, “This work is a crossover study between battery technology and biotherapy, which not only provides a new treatment method for antitumor therapy but also establishes a precedent for batteries in biomedical application.”
Tirapazamine is an investigational anticancer drug that only becomes toxic when exposed to very small amounts of oxygen. Tumor hypoxia is a condition where such levels are frequent in solid tumours of humans.