title: Magnetic nanoparticles: a strategy to target the choroidal layer in the posterior segment of the eye.
abstract: Despite the higher rate of blindness due to population aging, minimally invasive and selective drug delivery to the eye still remains an open challenge, especially in the posterior segment. The retina, the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the choroid are posterior segment cell layers, which may be affected by several diseases. In particular, damages to the choroid are associated with poor prognosis in the most severe pathologies. A drug delivery approach, able to target the choroid, is still missing. Recently, we demonstrated that intravitreally injected magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) are able to rapidly and persistently localise within the RPE in an autonomous manner. In this work we functionalised the MNP surface with the vascular endothelial growth factor, a bioactive molecule capable of transcytosis from the RPE towards more posterior layers. Such functionalisation successfully addressed the MNPs to the choroid, while MNP functionalised with a control polypeptide (poly-L-lysine) showed the same localisation pattern of the naked MNP particles. These data suggest that the combination of MNP with different bioactive molecules could represent a powerful strategy for cell-specific targeting of the eye posterior segment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Università di Pisa, 56127, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Martina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giannaccini
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Università di Pisa, 56127, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pedicini
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Università di Pisa, 56127, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Guglielma
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Matienzo
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Industrial Chemistry, Università di Pisa, 56124, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chiellini
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Università di Pisa, 56127, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dente
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Università di Pisa, 56127, Pisa, Italy.|Institute of Life Science, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, 56127, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Vittoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Raffa
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002829:Choroid / Q000187:drug effects*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D055213:Retinal Pigment Epithelium / Q000187:drug effects*; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A / Q000008:administration & dosage; D015027:Zebrafish
chemical_list: D058185:Magnetite Nanoparticles; D042461:Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A