α-Lipoic acid (ALA) is a powerful antioxidant valuable for prevention and treatment of ophthalmic complications such as diabetic keratopathy and retinopathy. The aim of this work was to develop micelle-based formulations that can enhance the solubility, stability, and corneal permeability of ALA. Compared to a conventional surfactant (sodium dioctylsulfosuccinate), Soluplus(®) (polyvinyl caprolactam-polyvinyl acetate-polyethylene glycol copolymer) led to smaller micelles (70-80 vs. 240-528 nm) with improved ability to solubilize ALA, maintaining ocular compatibility (Hens Egg Test on the Chorio-Allantoic Membrane). Soluplus nanomicelles enhanced more than 10-fold ALA solubility compared to common eye drops and withstood strong dilution in lachrymal fluid, filtration through sterilizing membranes, and freeze-drying. Interestingly, Soluplus nanomicelle formulation prepared with 1 or 2 mM block copolymer concentration exhibited in situ gelling capability and transformed into weak gels at 35°C, which is expected to increase corneal residence time. Bovine corneal permeability revealed that Soluplus nanomicelles notably enhanced ALA accumulation into the cornea as well as flux of drug toward the receptor chamber. Overall, these findings point out Soluplus nanomicelles as suitable carriers of ALA that may exhibit improved performance compared to currently available eye drop solutions.

Purpose To evaluate the association between allergic sensitivity and pollen counts in patients with allergic respiratory disease (ARD) and its relationship with atmospheric pollutants. Methods From 2012 to 2018, we evaluated the sensitivity by skin prick test in ARD patients. The pollen counts were analyzed according to international guidelines (2014–2018). The pollutant and meteorological data were obtained at the same time from AIRE-CDMX websites. We analyzed the association between allergic sensitivity and pollen counts using the χ2 test and stratified by disease allergic rhinitis (AR) and AR with asthma (ARwA), periods (before/after 2015), and pollination seasons (S1:2014–2015), (S2:2015–2016), (S3:2016–2017), (S4:2017–2018). Likewise, we correlated the pollen counts with the concentrations of pollutants using Pearson’s correlation. For all analyses, we used SPSS v.21 software, and a p -value <0.05 was considered significant. Results A total of 520 patients were enrolled, of whom 67.3% had ARwA and 33.7% had AR ( p <0.05). The frequency of patients allergic to at least one pollen was higher compared with patients sensitive to indoor allergens (55.3% vs 44.6%, p <0.001). A total of 46.8% of the patients were only sensitive to trees in comparison to other outdoor allergens ( p <0.001). The Fraxinus sp. and the Cupressaceae family allergens were approximately two times more frequent than the other tree allergens in both diseases ( p <0.05). These pollens doubled their counts since 2015 ( p <0.001), which was associated with increases in sensitivity for Fraxinus sp. and the Cupressaceae family compared to previous years ( p <0.001). Regarding pollutants, the most significant correlations were with PM 10 , NO 2 , PM CO for Fraxinus sp. pollen concentrations in all seasons ( p ≤0.02). Conclusion The high increases in pollen counts of the Fraxinus sp. and Cupressaceae family were associated with increases in the frequency of sensitization to these species, and this phenomenon correlated with increases in PM 10 , NO 2 , and PM CO .