Nanoparticle Modified Drug Loaded Biodegradable Polymeric Contact Lenses for Sustainable Ocular Drug Delivery

Background: Glaucoma, a chronic eye condition caused by progressive degeneration of retinal ganglion cells may result in permanent blindness. The restricted efficiency of currently available glaucoma treatments has awakened a global need for designing a novel anti-glaucoma drug delivery mechanism that targets the drug to the site of action in a sustained manner with less toxicity and side effects. With reference to this global problem in the present study, we have fabricated a biodegradable transparent polymeric material loaded with minimum amount of anti-glaucoma drug, acetazolamide. Methods: The drug was modified using a suitable nanocarrier for its sustained drug release. The efficient modification of nanocarrier encapsulated drug as well as the drug loaded polymeric film was studied using various characterization techniques such as UV-visible spectrophotometry, spectroflurimetry, polarizing optical microscope, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (TGA/DSC). Results: The characterization techniques indicated efficient transformation of the crystalline drug in to amorphous during nanocarrier encapsulation. The in-vitro drug release study in simulated tear fluid (STF) showed prolonged release of the drug from the nano drug complex for 3 h with the complete degradation of the polymer matrix within 5 min. Conclusion: The fabricated biomaterial showed excellent potential to be developed in to a drug loaded contact lens for sustained glaucoma drug delivery with benefits of low drug content and fewer drug induced side effects.