Novel anti-biofouling and drug releasing materials for contact lenses

Publication date: May 2020Source: Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces, Volume 189Author(s): Hiroaki Ogawa, Tadashi Nakaji-Hirabayashi, Kazuaki Matsumura, Chiaki Yoshikawa, Hiromi Kitano, Yoshiyuki SaruwatariAbstractContact lens users very often become patients of allergic conjunctivitis, which is caused by protein and bacteria adsorption to the eye, because contact lenses easily adsorb proteins and bacteria. However, even if contact lens users develop eye diseases such as allergic conjunctivitis, most of them continue to use contact lenses to avoid interference to daily life or a decrease in their quality of life. If novel contact lenses able to prevent and additionally cure eye diseases can be manufactured, they could improve the quality of life of contact lens users worldwide. Thus, we aim to develop a novel material for contact lenses to prevent diseases by incorporating a zwitterionic polymer with the ability to suppress protein and bacteria adsorption. In addition, we also aim to effectively introduce and release a drug against allergic conjunctivitis from the contact lens material. Because the poorly water-soluble drug for allergic conjunctivitis (pranoprofen) forms a rigid crystal structure, we developed the novel “hot-melt press method” to construct a contact lens able to effectively release it. In the present study, polymer sheets containing carboxymethyl betaine (a kind of zwitterionic monomer), 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, and 1-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone were prep...
Source: Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces - Category: Biochemistry Source Type: research