“…Confocal images of both, the cornea and the conjunctiva, show that the instilled nanoparticles (HA-fl:CSO and HA-fl:CS, with a mass ratio of 1:2) were located inside the corneal and conjunctival cells, suggesting that they penetrate the epithelia by a transcellular pathway. This mechanism, which has also been reported for other nanosystems, 14,15 could be reinforced by the known ability of HA to interact with the CD44 receptor expressed on the ocular surface. 18,37 In fact, the fluorescence observed in the cornea exposed to HA-fl solution suggest that the polymer was also internalized into the cells.…”