Lollipop-Inspired Multilayered Drug Delivery Hydrogel for Dual Effective, Long-Term, and NIR-Defined Glaucoma Treatment.

Abstract

Glaucoma is an ophthalmic disease that is characterized by elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). Eye drops are the preferred choice to reduce IOP for the treatment of glaucoma. However, the bioavailability of eye drops is low (<5%). Their long-term frequent administration cannot ensure patient compliance, which is the main reason for treatment failure. Inspired by lollipop, herein, a multilayered sodium alginate-chitosan (SA-CS) hydrogel ball (HB) decorated by zinc oxide-modified biochar (ZnO-BC) is developed as a new drug delivery system. The multilayer structure encapsulate timolol maleate (TM) and levofloxacin inside the different layers to realize the sustained release of drugs, which can control ocular hypertension and prevent infection effectively. The results show that the release of TM can be sustained in vitro for longer than 2 weeks. Moreover, IOP is also effectively reduced in vivo. Meanwhile, the photothermal conversion activity of ZnO-BC can regulate drug release on demand after stimulation by near-infrared irradiation. More importantly, the designed HB also shows good biocompatibility and antibacterial properties in vitro and in vivo. In summary, ZnO-BC-SA-CS HB can effectively reduce IOP and is expected to replace the classical tedious eye drop strategy, having potential utilization value in the treatment of glaucoma.

• Authors: Feifei Wang, Yuning Song, Jinlong Huang, Bingxuan Wu, Yanan Wang, Yulian Pang, Wei Zhang, Zhenling Zhu, Fangli Ma, Xiaolei Wang, Xu Zhang
• Journal: Macromolecular bioscience (Macromol Biosci) Vol. 21 Issue 11 Pg. e2100202 (11 2021) ISSN: 1616-5195 [Electronic] Germany
• PMID: 34405963 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: © 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

Chemical References

• Hydrogels
• Ophthalmic Solutions
• Timolol

Topics

• Animals
• Drug Delivery Systems
• Glaucoma (drug therapy)
• Humans
• Hydrogels (chemistry)
• Intraocular Pressure (drug effects)
• Ophthalmic Solutions
• Rabbits
• Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared (methods)
• Timolol (administration & dosage, pharmacology)