School of Pharmacy

Developing a bandage for the eye

 

Developing a bandage for the eye

A recent publication from the Division of Drug Delivery & Tissue Engineering  is this publication in the journal Biomaterials:

A thermoreversible hydrogel as a biosynthetic bandage for corneal wound repair

Chayanin Pratoomsoota, Hidetoshi Taniokab, Kuniko Horib, Satoshi Kawasakib, Shigeru Kinoshitab, Patrick J. Tighec, Harminder Duad, Kevin M. Shakesheffa, Felicity Rosamari A.J. Rosea,

aSchool of Pharmacy, Wolfson Centre for Stem Cells, Tissue Engineering and Modelling (STEM), Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK

bDepartment of Ophthalmology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan

cDivision of Immunology, School of Molecular Medical Sciences, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK

dDivision of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, School of Medical and Surgical Sciences, Queen's Medical Centre, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK.

Received 9 June 2007; accepted 18 September 2007

Available online 31 October 2007

Lay summary:

Injuries to the cornea are believed to be responsible for nearly 2 million new cases of blindness every year.  The amniotic membrane, that surrounds the baby in the womb, is often used in the clinic for the treatment of such damaged eye tissue.  The membrane protects the eye from infection and reduces inflammation whilst stimulating repair of the wound bed.  However, due to its biological nature and the different ways it is prepared and stored before use in the clinic, the final outcome can be variable and blindness can still occur in those patients where this treatment fails. 

Researchers within the School of Pharmacy are working with clinicians based in the Queens Medical Centre to develop a synthetic alternative to the amniotic membrane that will hopefully provide a more reliable and consistent wound healing response.  This paper describes research into the base component of the treatment which is a hydrogel that can switch between being a liquid or a gel by just changing the temperature, e.g. from the fridge to body temperature.  We confirmed the gelling properties of this hydrogel and illustrated, with colleagues in Kyoto, Japan, the safe nature of this material when in contact with the eye.  We hope that future studies will build on this initial work so that we can use this hydrogel to deliver drugs to the wounded cornea.

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