The Potential To Treat Glaucoma With Vitamin E Loaded Contact Lenses

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The Potential To Treat Glaucoma With Vitamin E Loaded Contact Lenses

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/183504.php

The popular dietary supplement vitamin E, loaded into special medicated contact

lenses, can keep glaucoma medicine near the eye - where it can treat that common

disease - almost 100 times longer than possible with current commercial lenses,

scientists have reported.

In a presentation at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society

(ACS), they described use of vitamin E to develop contact lenses that may

deliver more medication for glaucoma and perhaps other diseases to the eye.

Anuj Chauhan, Ph.D., who headed the research team, explained that glaucoma is

second only to cataracts as the leading cause of vision loss and blindness in

the world. It affects almost 67 million people. Eye drops that relieve the

abnormal build-up of pressure inside the eye that occurs in glaucoma, are a

mainstay treatment.

" The problem is within about two to five minutes of putting drops in the eye,

tears carry the drug away and it doesn't reach the targeted tissue, " said

Chauhan, who is with the University of Florida in Gainesville. " Much of the

medicine gets absorbed into the bloodstream, which carries it throughout the

body where it could cause side effects. Only about one to five percent of drugs

in eye drops actually reach the cornea of the eye. "

Chauhan and colleagues have developed a new extended-release delivery approach

incorporating vitamin E into contact lenses. The invisible clusters, or

aggregates, of vitamin E molecules form what Chauhan describes as " transport

barriers. " that slow down the elusion of the glaucoma medication from the lens

into the eye. The drug released from the lens into the eye stays in the tears

far longer than the 2-5 minutes with eye drops, leading to more effective

therapy.

" These vitamin structures are like 'nano-bricks', " Chauhan said. " The drug

molecules can't go through the vitamin E. They must go around it. Because the

nanobricks are so much bigger than the drug molecules - we believe about a few

hundred times bigger - the molecules get diverted and must travel a longer path.

This increases the duration of the drug release from the lenses. "

In research with laboratory animals, the lenses containing vitamin E nanobricks

administered drugs up to 100 times longer than most commercial lenses. The

lenses could be designed for continuous wear for up to a month, Chauhan said. In

addition to treating glaucoma, the contacts could help other eye conditions,

such as cataract and dry eye. Cataract is a clouding of the lens of the eye, and

dry eye involves decreased production of tears. It affects about 2 in 10 people

and can lead to more severe eye problems.

" Vitamin E is a proven nutraceutical that in small amounts is good for the eye

because of its ant-oxidant properties. Also Vitamin E presence in the contact

lenses blocks UV radiation, leading to increased protection against the UV

light. Our research has shown that the vitamin can be loaded into the lenses

without any reduction in transparency. We believe it could be helpful in disease

treatment and in prevention as well, " he said.

Chauhan said that clinical trials of the new lenses could begin within a year to

2 years.

Excerpt from Chauhan's ACS presentation:

We have developed a novel approach of extending the duration of drug release

from contact lenses by including nanosized aggregates of Vitamin E in the

lenses. The Vitamin E nano-aggregates force the drug molecules to travel in a

tortuous path leading to increased drug release durations. Another benefit of

Vitamin E incorporation is that Vitamin E is known to be an anti-oxidant, whose

slow release from lenses could also help in prevention of ophthalmic diseases

like cataract and glaucoma. Furthermore, Vitamin E blocks UV radiation, leading

to reduced ocular damage from the UV light. Our research has shown that Vitamin

E can be loaded into the lenses without any reduction in transparency. The drug

release durations from Vitamin E loaded lenses are about 100 times longer than

from commercial lenses for several ophthalmic drugs including glaucoma drug

timolol, anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone, and anti-viral drug flucanozole.

Thus, Vitamin E loaded lenses could be highly effective in synergistic

prevention and treatment of ophthalmic diseases through extended delivery of the

desired drugs and the nutraceutical Vitamin E. Animal studies in beagle dogs are

ongoing to explore glaucoma treatment through Vitamin E laden contact lenses.