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The cornea is a major pathway for drug delivery to diseased eye structures. The authors investigated the application of one-second bursts of 20-kHz ultrasound, at ISAPA of 14 W/cm2 (ISATA of 2 W/cm2), for enhancement of corneal permeability to glaucoma drugs of different lipophilicity (atenolol, carteolol, timolol and betaxolol). The permeability of rabbit cornea increased by 2.6 times for atenolol, 2.8 for carteolol, 1.9 for timolol and 4.4 times for betaxolol (all p values < 0.05), after 60 minutes of ultrasound (US) exposure in vitro. The differences between the treatment and control experiments were statistically significant after 10-30 minutes of US exposure for all four drugs. US application appeared to produce epithelial disorganization and structural changes in the corneal stroma. Further studies are needed to determine the optimal US parameters for a safe and effective treatment.
Dr. V. Zderic, Center for Industrial and Medical Ultrasound, Applied Physics Laboratory, 1013 NE 40th Street, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. vesna@u.washington.edu
11.16 Vehicles, delivery systems, pharmacokinetics, formulation (Part of: 11 Medical treatment)