Abstract
Eye injuries due to corneal abrasions, chemical spills, penetrating wounds, and microbial infections cause corneal scarring and opacification that result in impaired vision or blindness. How-ever, presently available eye drop formulations of anti-inflammatory and antibiotic drugs are not effective due to their rapid clearance from the ocular surface or due to drug-related side effects such as cataract formation or increased intraocular pressure. In this article, we presented the development of a dextran sulfate-based polymer wafer (DS-wafer) for the effective modulation of inflammation and fibrosis and demonstrated its efficacy in two corneal injury models: corneal abrasion mouse model and alkali induced ocular burn mouse model. The DS-wafers were fabricated by the electrospinning method. We assessed the efficacy of the DS-wafer by light microscopy, qPCR, con-focal fluorescence imaging, and histopathological analysis. These studies demonstrated that the DS-wafer treatment is significantly effective in modulating corneal inflammation and fibrosis and in-hibited corneal scarring and opacification compared to the unsulfated dextran-wafer treated and untreated corneas. Furthermore, these studies have demonstrated the efficacy of dextran sulfate as an anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic polymer therapeutic.
Original language | English (US) |
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Article number | 1628 |
Journal | Pharmaceutics |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2021 |
Keywords
- Cornea
- Corneal fibrosis
- Corneal scarring
- Dextran sulfate
- Eye injury
- Inflammation
- Polymer therapeutic
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Pharmaceutical Science