No abstract

Glaucoma is considered to be one of the biggest health problems in the world. It is the main cause of preventable blindness due to its asymptomatic nature in the early stages on the one hand and patients’ non-adherence on the other. There are several approaches in glaucoma treatment, whereby this has to be individually designed for each patient. The first-line treatment is medication therapy. However, taking into account numerous disadvantages of conventional ophthalmic dosage forms, intensive work has been carried out on the development of novel drug delivery systems for glaucoma. This review aims to provide an overview of formulation solutions and strategies in the development of in situ gel systems, nanosystems, ocular inserts, contact lenses, collagen corneal shields, ocular implants, microneedles, and iontophoretic devices. The results of studies confirming the effectiveness of the aforementioned drug delivery systems were also briefly presented.

The pursuance of novel antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agents has been expanding due to a significant need for more efficient pharmacotherapy of various infections and chronic diseases. During the last decade, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and pharmacological properties of curcumin have been extensively studied. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antibacterial activity of curcumin against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria as well as its antifungal activity by using in vitro agar well diffusion assay. Moreover, the anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin was determined with in vitro assay of inhibition of protein denaturation. Results demonstrated wide antimicrobial activity of curcumin upon all of the test bacteria and fungi. The strongest activity of curcumin was observed at a concentration of 0.50 mg/ml against S. aureus, L. monocytogenes, E. coli, P. aeruginosa and C. albicans, resulting in a maximum zone of inhibition of 14.7 mm, 14.3 mm, 13.7 mm, 10.7 mm and 10.7 mm, respectively. Findings suggested that the antimicrobial activity of curcuminis dependent upon the concentrations. Furthermore, results demonstrated high effectiveness of curcumin compared to standard acetylsalicylic acid in inhibiting heat-induced protein denaturation, which activity is also depended upon the concentrations. The present study emphasises the potential application of curcumin as a natural antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory agent. However, findings of this study are restricted to in vitro assays and consideration should be given to conducting a study involving wider dose range test substances as well as including further research on in vivo models.

Das Glaukom gilt als eins der größten gesundheitlichen Probleme weltweit. Es ist die häufigste vermeidbare Erblindungsursache – zum Einen, weil es in der Frühphase asymptomatisch bleibt, zum Anderen wegen mangelnder Therapietreue der Patienten. Es gibt bei der Behandlung des Glaukoms verschiedene Herangehensweisen, die jeweils auf den Einzelfall abgestimmt werden müssen. Die erste Therapielinie ist eine medikamentöse Behandlung. Da jedoch die herkömmlichen Darreichungsformen zahlreiche Nachteile aufweisen, wird intensiv an der Entwicklung neuartiger Wirkstoffabgabesysteme für die Glaukomtherapie gearbeitet. Die vorliegende Übersichtsarbeit gibt einen Überblick über Lösungsansätze und Strategien bei der Entwicklung von Darreichungsformen wie in situ gelierenden Systemen, Nanosystemen, okulären Inserten, Kontaktlinsen, Cornea Shields aus Kollagen, okulären Implantaten, Mikronadeln und Iontophoresesystemen. Ergänzend werden Ergebnisse von Studien zur Wirksamkeit dieser Wirkstoffabgabesysteme kurz vorgestellt.

Conventional ophthalmic dosage forms, although being simple to apply and presenting great patients' compliance, display poorer drug bioavailability and retention time on the eye surface. To cope with these problems, one must formulate novel drug delivery systems, such as nanosystems, for ocular drug delivery. Different formulation methods of nanoparticles have been developed, but some of them, such as the supercritical fluid method, have not reached their full potential in ocular drug delivery. This article aims to present the possibilities of the supercritical fluid method when preparing nanosystems for ocular drug delivery. This method could be used more frequently and efficiently because it is environmentally friendly and produces nanoparticles of the desired physicochemical properties, which is especially important in ocular drug delivery considering its peculiarities. Modifications of the supercritical fluid method can be used when a drug has some specific properties, which is an additional benefit in ocular drug delivery.