Albumin/Hyaluronic Acid Nanoparticle-Laden Contact Lenses for the Ocular Delivery of 5-Fluorouracil

Abstract

Nanoparticle-laden contact lenses are a formidable strategy for ocular drug delivery. However, incorporating nanoparticles to achieve sustained drug release without affecting the contact lenses' properties remains a challenging task. In this work, daily and monthly replacement silicone-hydrogel contact lenses laden with bovine serum albumin/hyaluronic acid (BSA/HA) nanoparticles are presented. These nanoparticle-laden contact lenses enable the sustained release of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) in mimetic physiological conditions. The nanoparticle-laden contact lenses display properties similar to neat contact lenses, including refractive index, water content, UV/visible transmittance and chemical structure. Noteworthy attributes include the BSA/HA nanoparticles' low polydispersity, negative surface charge and a hydrodynamic size of ~210 nm, as well as the high nanoparticle loading efficiency (~ 30%) of the contact lenses. Thereby, the BSA/HA nanoparticles are a promising strategy for developing nanoparticle-laden contact lenses for therapeutic applications, namely for sustained drug delivery.