Development of Antioxidant Biodegradable In-Situ Forming Drug Delivery System for Glaucoma Therapy

Glaucoma is the second worldwide leading cause of blindness. To enhance therapeutic efficacy,various dosage forms have been applied to deliver medication for anti-glaucoma treatment. We haverecently shown that intracameral administration of pilocarpine using thermo-sensitive biodegradable copolymer i.e., gelatin-g-poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (GN) is more effective than other traditional methods such as instillation of eye drop and injection of free drug in improving ocular bioavailability and pharmacological response. Although the mechanism for glaucoma induction is not yet completely understood, the oxidative stress may play a crucial role in the progressive glaucomatous optic neuropathy. It motivates us to develop a potential next-generation drug carrier by incorporating antioxidant molecule (i.e., gallic acid) into the GN copolymer. In the first year of this project, we will focus on the characterization and cytocompatibility of newly synthesized antioxidant polymer. Further work over the next year will be pharmacokinetic and tolerability studies of antioxidant drug delivery system (DDS) in the anterior segment of animal eyes. In the third year, an in vitro oxidative stress model was used to examine the protective effect of antioxidant biodegradable in-situ forming depot. Studies in the fourth year will investigate its therapeutic efficacy after intraocular administration in glaucomatous rabbits. The novel DDS will help people who are experiencing vision loss.

Project ID:PG10301-0187
External Project ID:NHRI-EX103-10311EC