title: Drug delivery to the eye: what benefits do nanocarriers offer?
abstract: Ocular drug delivery has seen several advances in the past few decades, with respect to new drugs, improved formulations, targeted delivery, as well as exploration of new routes of drug administration. New materials have been explored for encasing existing drugs, which can enhance treatment by increasing bioavailability, decreasing toxicity, providing better tissue adherence, targeted delivery as well as increased duration of action. The challenges and requirements are different for the anterior and posterior ocular segments. This review summarizes the recent advances in sustained ocular therapy, both to the anterior and posterior segments, which have been made possible, thanks to nanotechnology. We also discuss the distribution and fate of these nanocarriers themselves, postadministration, as well as clearance from ocular tissues.
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Rini Rachel
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Joseph
authors.affiliation: School of Materials Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.|NTU-Northwestern Institute for Nanomedicine, School of Materials Science & Engineering (MSE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore.
authors.forename: Subbu S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Venkatraman
mesh_terms: D004337:Drug Carriers / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D005123:Eye / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000639:trends
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers
keywords: anterior segment delivery; fate and ocular disposition; liposomes; nanoparticles; posterior segment delivery; sustained delivery