Department of Pharmacy, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Inter-University Center for the Promotion of the Rs Principles in Teaching & Research (CentroR), Pisa, Italy.
Expert Opin Drug Deliv. 2024 Mar;21(3):381-397. doi: 10.1080/17425247.2024.2323208. Epub 2024 Feb 27.
Research on nanotechnology in medicine has also involved the ocular field and nanomicelles are among the applications developed. This approach is used to increase both the water solubility of hydrophobic drugs and their penetration/permeation within/through the ocular tissues since nanomicelles are able to encapsulate insoluble drug into their core and their small size allows them to penetrate and/or diffuse through the aqueous pores of ocular tissues.
The present review reports the most significant and recent literature on the use of nanomicelles, made up of both surfactants and amphiphilic polymers, to overcome limitations imposed by the physiology of the eye in achieving a high bioavailability of drugs intended for the therapeutic areas of greatest commercial interest: dry eye, inflammation, and glaucoma.
The results of the numerous studies in this field are encouraging and demonstrate that nanomicelles may be the answer to some of the challenges of ocular therapy. In the future, new molecules self-assembling into micelles will be able to meet the regulatory requirements for marketing authorization for their use in ophthalmic formulations.
医学领域的纳米技术研究也涉及眼部领域，其中纳米胶束就是开发的应用之一。这种方法用于提高疏水性药物的水溶性及其在眼部组织内/透过眼部组织的渗透/穿透能力，因为纳米胶束能够将不溶性药物包裹在其核心内，并且其小尺寸允许它们穿透和/或扩散通过眼部组织的水相孔。
本综述报告了使用纳米胶束（由表面活性剂和两亲性聚合物组成）克服眼部生理学限制以实现用于最具商业利益的治疗领域（干眼症、炎症和青光眼）的药物高生物利用度的最显著和最新文献。
该领域的众多研究结果令人鼓舞，表明纳米胶束可能是解决眼部治疗一些挑战的答案。未来，能够自我组装成胶束的新分子将能够满足将其用于眼科制剂的上市许可的监管要求。
