Drug Delivery Systems for Ophthalmic Administration of Antiinflammatory Agents

Yolanda      Diebold; Laura      Contreras-Ruiz; Isabel      Arranz-Valsero; Laura      Garcia-Posadas

doi:10.2174/1871523011109030203

Abstract

Anti-inflammatory agents are routinely used to treat inflammatory diseases affecting both anterior and/or posterior segments of the eye. Corticosteroids and NSAIDs can be administered either topically onto the ocular surface structures or injected into the eye. However, one of the most important handicaps of ocular treatments is the presence of several anatomical and physiological barriers in the eye that drastically reduce drug access to the target site. The hydrophobicity of anti-inflammatory agents, low drug bioavailability, and the invasiveness of intraocular drug delivery are main reasons to explore the potential application of drug delivery-related technologies to develop new antiinflammatory ocular therapies. This review summarizes conventional anti-inflammatory treatments for ocular diseases and the ongoing research efforts to develop improved drug delivery systems. Micro-size intraocular implants, microparticles, nanoparticles, and liposomes are the preferred delivery systems in study.

Keywords: Anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, drug delivery, eye disease, nanomedicine, nanoparticles, NSAIDs, ocular drug administration, Ophthalmology, OCULAR ANTI-INFLAMMATORY THERAPY