Moxifloxacin-loaded acrylic intraocular lenses: in vitro performance

Session Details

Session Title: Endophthalmitis/ Ocular Infections/ Miscellaneous

Session Date/Time: Tuesday 10/10/2017 | 08:00-10:30

Paper Time: 08:31

Venue: Room 4.6

First Author: : A.Pimenta PORTUGAL

Co Author(s): :    A. Vieira   S. Oliveira   J. Mata   H. Filipe   B. Saramago   A. Serro     

Abstract Details

Purpose:

The main goal of this investigation was to develop intraocular lenses (IOLs) loaded with moxifloxacin (MFX) that could ensure a controlled release of antibiotic for an adequate period of time and thus be used as an alternative to the conventional eye drops administration in the prophylaxis of post-cataract surgery endophthalmitis.

Setting:

Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal; Departamento de Engenharia Química, Universidade de Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal; and PhysIOL, Liège Science Park, Liège, Belgium.

Methods:

Hydrophilic acrylic IOLs were loaded with MFX by soaking in a drug solution at 60 ⁰C, autoclaved in the soaking solution and stored for 2 months. The lenses were characterized regarding surface morphology/topography by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM), wettability through the captive bubble method, transparency, refractive index, elastic modulus, dimensional control, axial displacement, haptic compression force and injectability with an IOL inserter. The MFX in vitro release profile was obtained using a microfluidic cell designed to mimic the hydrodynamic conditions of the aqueous humor. Solutions collected were tested against S. aureus and S. epidermidis.

Results:

The incorporation of the antibiotic in the IOLs produced negligible effect on the evaluated properties: transmittance in the 500-700 nm range decreased from 92.5 ± 2.3% to 89.7 ± 2.1%, the water contact angle from 43.7 ± 5.1° to 38.6 ± 4.3°. The loaded samples Young modulus was 3.911 ± 0.045 MPa. SEM and AFM images did not show significant changes in the surface morphology/topography. In vitro drug release experiments led to drug concentrations above the MICs for both microorganisms during more than 15 days and microbiological tests showed that the drug was active.

Conclusions:

The incorporation of the drug and the sterilization procedure did not impair the IOLs biomaterial properties. Furthermore, the devices were able to release an adequate amount of drug for at least 2 weeks. The results indicate that the studied MFX-loaded IOLs are promising devices for the prophylaxis of endophthalmitis and encourage further research.

Financial Disclosure:

NONE