RT Journal Article
T1 Contact lenses for pravastatin delivery to eye segments: Design and in vitro-in vivo correlations
A1 Pereira da Mota, Ana F.
A1 Vivero López, María
A1 Serramito Blanco, María
A1 Díaz Gómez, Luis
A1 Serro, Ana Paula
A1 Carracedo Rodríguez, Juan Gonzalo
A1 Huete Toral, Fernando
A1 Concheiro, Angel
A1 Álvarez Lorenzo, Carmen
AB Oral administration of cholesterol-lowering statins, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, is associated with beneficial effects on eye conditions. This work aims to design contact lenses (CLs) that can sustainedly deliver pravastatin and thus improve the ocular efficacy while avoiding systemic side effects of statins. Bioinspired hydrogels were prepared with monomers that resemble hydrophobic (ethylene glycol phenyl ether methacrylate) and amino (2-aminoethyl methacrylamide hydrochloride) functionalities of the active site of HMG-CoA. Best performing CLs loaded >6 mg/g, in vitro fulfilled the release demands for daily wearing, and showed anti-inflammatory activity (lowering TNF-α). High hydrostatic pressure sterilization preserved the stability of both the drug and the hydrogel network. Ex vivo tests revealed the ability of pravastatin to accumulate in cornea and sclera and to penetrate through transscleral route. In vivo tests (rabbits) confirmed that, compared to eye drops and for the same dose, CLs provided significantly higher pravastatin levels in tear fluid within 1 to 7 h of wearing. Moreover, after 8 h wearing pravastatin was present in cornea, sclera, aqueous humour and vitreous humour. Strong correlations between percentages of drug released in vitro and in vivo were found. Effects of volume and proteins on release rate and Levy plots were identified.
PB Elsevier
SN 0168-3659
YR 2022
FD 2022-06-13
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/93198
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/93198
LA eng
NO European Union's Horizon 2020
NO Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (España)
NO Xunta de Galicia
NO Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional
NO Fundaçao para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 9 abr 2025