Abstract
Hepatic fibrosis is associated with hepatocytes damage, leading to an abnormal increase in blood ammonia. Accumulating ammonia further aggravates the pathological environment and can trigger hepatic encephalopathy. Therefore, it is meaningful to construct therapeutic platform for targeted ammonia clearance. In this work, a biocompatible water powered Zn micromotor is constructed as ammonia chemotaxis platform, which can be actuated by 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, the biomimetic swarming behavior of Zn micromotors allows precise navigation and reduction of the intrahepatic ammonia level, thus reshaping the local pathological environment. The decrease in blood ammonia leads to a reduction in ammonia permeated to the brain, which in turn alleviates neuron damage and inhibits the development of hepatic encephalopathy. This mechanism, operating in a green, zero-waste manner, facilitates integration of these micromotors into domain of biological regulation. Such 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.