Integrated precise temperature regulation and electrophysiology sensing system for nanoplasmonic photothermal cardiac bradyarrhythmia therapy

Zheng et al. Microsystems & Nanoengineering (2026)12:220 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41378-026-01257-6 ARTICLE Microsystems & Nanoengineering www.nature.com/micronano Open Access Integrated precise temperature regulation and electrophysiology sensing system for nanoplasmonic photothermal cardiac bradyarrhythmia therapy 1234567890():,; 1234567890():,; 1234567890():,; 1234567890():,; Jilin Zheng1, Zhekun Jia1,2, Yuli Hu3, Xuelian Lyu1, Saier Huang4, Jiaru Fang5, Dongxin Xu6 ✉, Jiong Ding4 ✉ and Ning Hu 1,6,7 ✉ Abstract Bradyarrhythmia is a potentially life-threatening disease. Current pharmacological and surgical treatments are limited by side effects and invasiveness, with an urgent need for safer and noninvasive therapeutic strategies. In this study, we develop a multifunctional regulating-sensing platform that integrates precise temperature regulation with simultaneous electrophysiological detection. This platform employs gold nanorods (Au NRs) as nanoplasmonic photothermal effect carriers in combination with integrated serpentine-shaped resistance temperature sensors (RTSs) and a microelectrode array (MEA) device. Under near-infrared (NIR) irradiation, the RTS achieves precise regulation of the therapeutic temperature during nanoplasmonic photothermal therapy (NPT), while the MEA is utilized for dynamic monitoring of electrophysiological signals. The optimization of the RTS structural parameters enhances temperature response sensitivity. Precise modulation of NPT temperature enables restoration of the bradyarrhythmia cardiomyocytes to a normal rhythm, which can be sustained for up to 380 min. Compared with traditional thermal imaging strategy, the RTS-based strategy offers superior temperature resolution, shorter response time, and greater system integration potential, which significantly improves the safety and accuracy of the treatment. This integrated regulating-sensing platform provides an effective pathway for the precise treatment of bradyarrhythmia and holds significant implications in the field of clinical cardiology. Introduction Bradyarrhythmia is a cardiovascular disease characterized by pathological slowing of heart rate or electrical conduction, which can lead to serious clinical consequences, including syncope, heart failure, and even sudden cardiac death1,2. Approximately 8 million Correspondence: Dongxin Xu () or Jiong Ding () or Ning Hu () 1 Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang-Israel Joint Laboratory of Self-Assembling Functional Materials, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China 2 Laboratory Medicine Center, Department of Transfusion Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, Affiliated People’s Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou 310014, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article These authors contributed equally: Jilin Zheng, Zhekun Jia, Yuli Hu individuals worldwide suffer from bradyarrhythmia, and the prevalence increases significantly with age, posing a major threat to elderly populations and individuals with chronic comorbidities1,3–5. Currently, treatment of bradyarrhythmia mainly relies on pharmacological intervention and surgical treatment6,7. Although drugs such as atropine8,9, isoprenaline10,11, and dopamine11,12 can effectively increase heart rate in the short term, their longterm efficacy is limited, and prolonged administration may induce secondary arrhythmias6. Surgical procedures (e.g., cardiac structural correction and conduction system repair) are effective, but highly invasive and technically complicated, with significant interindividual variability that constrains their widespread clinical application13. Electronic pacemakers currently serve as the first-line therapeutic intervention for severe bradyarrhythmia2. © The Author(s) 2026 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Zheng et al. Microsystems & Nanoengineering (2026)12:220 However, their long-term applications are limited by postoperative complications such as post-procedural infections, lead dislodgement, device aging, and battery depletion2,14. Therefore, there is an urgent demand for safer, more effective, and durable therapeutic strategies for bradyarrhythmia. In recent years, near-infrared (NIR)-triggered photothermal therapy has shown promising therapeutic applications owing to its high spatial resolution targeting, simplified operation, and lower complication risk15,16. The therapeutic mechanism of photothermal therapy relies on the selective absorption of NIR light via photothermal conversion agents (PTAs), which subsequently convert the absorbed energy into localized heat to target lesion regions17,18. Currently, various types of inorganic PTAs (e.g., gold nanostructures19–21, carbonbased nanomaterials22,23, transition metal chalcogenides24,25,) and organic PTAs (e.g., conjugated polymers26,27, small organic dyes28,29) have been extensively investigated. Among these materials, gold nanorods (Au NRs) are of great interest owing to their excellent biocompatibility and high photothermal conversion efficiency, demonstrating potential application in the field of cardiac rhythm regulation30–33. The stable chemical properties and excellent biocompatibility34 minimize potential cytotoxicity and long-term safety concerns in cardiomyocytes. Moreover, Au NRs exhibit good photostability and chemical inertness under laser irradiation, ensuring consistent and reliable performance during the treatment process. The 808 nm laser closely matches the absorption peak of Au NRs, which enables efficient light absorption and localized heat generation within Au NRtreated cardiomyocytes. Consequently, a relatively low laser power density is sufficient to achieve the desired therapeutic temperature within the targeted cellular region. However, the efficacy of NPT is highly sensitive to temperature. Previous studies have shown that the NPT temperatures below the threshold fail to achieve the desire (...truncated)