Abstract
Introduction: Anterior and posterior segment eye diseases are highly challenging to
treat, due to the barrier properties and relative inaccessibility of the ocular tissues.
Topical eye drops and systemically delivered treatments result in low bioavailability.
Alternatively, direct injection of medication into the ocular tissues is clinically
employed to overcome the barrier properties, but injections cause significant tissue
damage and are associated with a number of untoward side effects and poor patient
compliance. Microneedles (MNs) has been recently introduced as a minimally
invasive means for localizing drug formulation within the target ocular tissues with
greater precision and accuracy than the hypodermic needles. Areas covered: This review article seeks to provide an overview of a range of
challenges that are often faced to achieve efficient ocular drug levels within targeted
tissue(s) of the eye. It also describes the problems encountered using conventional
hypodermic needle-based ocular injections for anterior and posterior segment drug
delivery. It discusses research carried out in the field of MNs, to date.
Expert opinion: MNs can aid in localization of drug delivery systems within the selected ocular tissue. And, hold the potential to revolutionize the way drug formulations are administered to the eye. However, the current limitations and challenges of MNs application warrant further research in this field to enable its widespread clinical application.
Expert opinion: MNs can aid in localization of drug delivery systems within the selected ocular tissue. And, hold the potential to revolutionize the way drug formulations are administered to the eye. However, the current limitations and challenges of MNs application warrant further research in this field to enable its widespread clinical application.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 525-537 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Expert Opinion on Drug Delivery |
Volume | 14 |
Issue number | 4 |
Early online date | 03 Aug 2016 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Apr 2017 |
Keywords
- Animals
- Drug Delivery Systems
- Eye Diseases/drug therapy
- Humans
- Needles
- Ophthalmic Solutions/administration & dosage
- Posterior Eye Segment/metabolism