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The topical route is the most frequent and preferred way to deliver drugs to the eye. Unfortunately, the very low ocular drug bioavailability (less than 5%) associated with this modality of administration, makes the efficient treatment of several ocular diseases a significant challenge. In the last decades, it has been shown that specific nanocarriers can interact with the ocular mucosa, thereby increasing the retention time of the associated drug onto the eye, as well as its permeability across the corneal and conjunctival epithelium. In this review, we comparatively analyze the mechanism of action and specific potential of the most studied nano-drug delivery carriers. In addition, we present the success achieved until now using a number of nanotherapies for the treatment of the most prevalent ocular pathologies, such as infections, inflammation, dry eye, glaucoma, and retinopathies.
Nano-oncologicals Lab, Translational Medical Oncology Group, Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Clinical University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela (CHUS), Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Center for Research in Molecular Medicine and Chronic Diseases (CIMUS), Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Dept. of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, School of Pharmacy, Univ. of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Full article11.16 Vehicles, delivery systems, pharmacokinetics, formulation (Part of: 11 Medical treatment)