Next-Generation Nanomedicine Approaches for the Management of Retinal Diseases

Abstract

Retinal diseases are one of the leading causes of blindness globally. The mainstay treatments for these blinding diseases are laser photocoagulation, vitrectomy, and repeated intravitreal injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) or steroids. Unfortunately, these therapies are associated with ocular complications like inflammation, elevated intraocular pressure, retinal detachment, endophthalmitis, and vitreous hemorrhage. Recent advances in nanomedicine seek to curtail these limitations, overcoming ocular barriers by developing non-invasive or minimally invasive delivery modalities. These modalities include delivering therapeutics to specific cellular targets in the retina, providing sustained delivery of drugs to avoid repeated intravitreal injections, and acting as a scaffold for neural tissue regeneration. These next-generation nanomedicine approaches could potentially revolutionize the treatment landscape of retinal diseases. This review describes the availability and limitations of current treatment strategies and highlights insights into the advancement of future approaches using next-generation nanomedicines to manage retinal diseases.

Solid Dispersion Incorporated into Dissolving Microneedles for Improved Antifungal Activity of Amphotericin B: In Vivo Study in a Fungal Keratitis Model

“…Several studies on the development of AMB have been made in various lipid formulations, such as AMB lipid complex, AMB colloid dispersion, and AMB liposomes, to increase drug penetration . Although this formulation aims to reduce the toxic effect of conventional AMB treatment, local administration has been shown to be toxic due to the presence of phospholipids, which causes pseudohyperphosphatemia, high production costs, and low solubility. , Other studies have explained that AMB liposomal is unstable, susceptible to being engulfed by phagocytes, has a shorter shelf life, and may form larger particles that can interfere with ocular absorption. − Furthermore, previous studies have also formulated AMB in the solid dispersion (SD-AMB) form and were able to increase the solubility of AMB significantly. , Therefore, another alternative to improve the solubility of AMB is to formulate it into the SD form.…”