Effect of a novel soft steroid on the wound healing of rabbit cornea.

The effect of a 'soft' anti-inflammatory corticosteroid on the corneal wound healing was investigated in rabbits. Albino rabbits were treated with soft steroid and dexamethasone after linear perforating corneal incision. Soft drug design is aimed to control and direct the drug activity and in vivo metabolism to nontoxic moieties. These drugs are rapidly deactivated after they reach the general circulation. While having good local activity, they thus possess high therapeutic indexes without systemic side effects. The wound healing process was evaluated qualitatively by histology. Photomicrographs are presented to show that the soft steroid is as or more effective than dexamethasone in minimizing scarring in addition to its advantageous metabolic properties. This soft steroid may be an efficient anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic agent in topical application without the majority of unwanted activities of traditional drugs by deliberately simplifying their disposition.