Binding of ocular drugs to melanin and melanosomes: new in vitro methodology and pharmacokinetic impact
Abstract
Visual impairment affects over 2.2 billion individuals globally, a figure that includes people with varying degrees of vision problems, such as those correctable with glasses.Of this population, approximately 43.3 million people are blind, while an estimated 295 million experience moderate to severe visual impairment.This poses significant challenges, particularly for the elderly and working-age populations.Chronic conditions like glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy require lifelong pharmaceutical treatment.Glaucoma patients apply daily or multiple times daily eye drops, but patient adherence is low.Posterior segment disorders, like age-related macular degeneration, are treated with intravitreal injections that involve risks and constitute a burden to the patients and healthcare personnel.Small molecule drugs are used in ophthalmic therapy, but they have a short duration of action in the anterior segment, whereas short action makes their use as simple injected solutions impossible in the posterior eye segment.Long-acting drug delivery systems are needed to improve patient compliance and therapeutic outcomes.Interestingly, many drugs bind to melanin and accumulate in the pigmented tissues like the retinal pigment epithelium, choroid, and ciliary body.This feature offers a potential approach for prolonged drug retention and 8 targeted delivery to the tissues.This thesis project explored melanin binding of drugs and its impact on ocular…
Read the paper
Related studies
- Ferulic acid regulates the AKT/GSK-3β/CRMP-2 signaling pathway in a middle cerebral artery occlusion animal model
- Novel Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Parameters Quantify the Exposure–Effect Relationship of Levofloxacin against Fluoroquinolone-Resistant Escherichia coli
- Photochemical behavior of levofloxacin
- Correlation Between Dissolution Profiles of Salt-Form Drugs in Biorelevant Bicarbonate Buffer and Oral Drug Absorption: Importance of Dose/ Fluid Volume Ratio
- Evaluation of the synergistic potential and mechanisms of action for de novo designed cationic antimicrobial peptides
- Synthesis of [11C]levofloxacin
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.