Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Feb 14;24(2):66.
doi: 10.1208/s12249-023-02516-9.

Ocular Drug Delivery: a Comprehensive Review

Sadek Ahmed  1 , Maha M Amin  2 , Sinar Sayed  2
Affiliations
Review

Ocular Drug Delivery: a Comprehensive Review

Sadek Ahmed et al. AAPS PharmSciTech. .

Abstract

The human eye is a sophisticated organ with distinctive anatomy and physiology that hinders the passage of drugs into targeted ophthalmic sites. Effective topical administration is an interest of scientists for many decades. Their difficult mission is to prolong drug residence time and guarantee an appropriate ocular permeation. Several ocular obstacles oppose effective drug delivery such as precorneal, corneal, and blood-corneal barriers. Routes for ocular delivery include topical, intravitreal, intraocular, juxtascleral, subconjunctival, intracameral, and retrobulbar. More than 95% of marketed products exists in liquid state. However, other products could be in semi-solid (ointments and gels), solid state (powder, insert and lens), or mixed (in situ gel). Nowadays, attractiveness to nanotechnology-based carries is resulted from their capabilities to entrap both hydrophilic and lipophilic drugs, enhance ocular permeability, sustain residence time, improve drug stability, and augment bioavailability. Different in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo characterization approaches help to predict the outcomes of the constructed nanocarriers. This review aims to clarify anatomy of the eye, various ocular diseases, and obstacles to ocular delivery. Moreover, it studies the advantages and drawbacks of different ocular routes of administration and dosage forms. This review also discusses different nanostructured platforms and their characterization approaches. Strategies to enhance ocular bioavailability are also explained. Finally, recent advances in ocular delivery are described.

Keywords: corneal barriers; in situ gel; nanocarriers; ocular delivery; retention time.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Krishnaswami V, Kandasamy R, Alagarsamy S, Palanisamy R, Natesan S. Biological macromolecules for ophthalmic drug delivery to treat ocular diseases. Int J Biol Macromol. 2018;110:7–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2018.01.120 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Chitra PS, Chaki D, Boiroju NK, Mokalla TR, Gadde AK, Agraharam SG, et al. Status of oxidative stress markers, advanced glycation index, and polyol pathway in age-related cataract subjects with and without diabetes. Exp Eye Res. 2020;200:108230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exer.2020.108230 .
    1. Leske MC. Open-angle glaucoma - an epidemiologic overview. Ophthalmic Epidemiol. 2007;14(4):166–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/09286580701501931 . - DOI - PubMed
    1. Elsayed I, Sayed S. Tailored nanostructured platforms for boosting transcorneal permeation: Box-Behnken statistical optimization, comprehensive in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo characterization. Int J Nanomed. 2017;12:7947–62. https://doi.org/10.2147/IJN.S150366 . - DOI
    1. Ahmed S, Amin MM, El-Korany SM, Sayed S. Corneal targeted fenticonazole nitrate-loaded novasomes for the management of ocular candidiasis: preparation, in vitro characterization, ex vivo and in vivo assessments. Drug Deliv. 2022;29(1):2428–41. https://doi.org/10.1080/10717544.2022.2103600 . - DOI - PubMed - PMC

LinkOut - more resources