Eye Institute & Affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, School of Medicine & School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China; Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, School of Medicine, Xiamen University, Fujian, China.
Eye Institute & Affiliated Xiamen Eye Center, School of Medicine & School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Xiamen University, Xiamen, Fujian, China.
Int J Pharm. 2024 Dec 5;666:124784. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2024.124784. Epub 2024 Sep 30.
Corneal alkali burn is a common and challenging ocular trauma, necessitating the use of dexamethasone (DXMS) as a therapeutic agent. However, prolonged and frequent administration of this drug can lead to undesirable side effects, limiting its clinical application. This study aimed to investigate the role and mechanism of action of exosomes as drug carriers in corneal alkali burn repair. We employed centrifugation to isolate milk exosomes (EXO) as nanocarriers. We observed that EXO enhanced the activity and migration of corneal epithelial cells, expediting the repair process following corneal injury. Additionally, a nano-drug delivery model (DXMS@EXO) was designed using ultrasound to load DXMS into exosomes, thus enabling targeted delivery to inflammatory cells and enhancing drug efficacy. DXMS@EXO inhibited the inflammatory processes in the corneal alkali burn model by modulating the classical Wnt signaling pathway, thereby promoting corneal re-epithelialization and wound healing and accelerating the repair process of corneal alkali burn. Neither EXO nor DXMS@EXO exhibited significant side effects during the course of treatment. This study highlighted the substantial potential of EXO and DXMS@EXO in improving drug efficacy and facilitating the repair of corneal alkali burn.
角膜碱烧伤是一种常见且具有挑战性的眼部创伤，需要使用地塞米松（DXMS）作为治疗药物。然而，这种药物的长期频繁使用会导致不良的副作用，限制了其临床应用。本研究旨在探讨外泌体作为药物载体在角膜碱烧伤修复中的作用和机制。我们采用离心法分离牛奶外泌体（EXO）作为纳米载体。我们观察到 EXO 增强了角膜上皮细胞的活性和迁移，加速了角膜损伤后的修复过程。此外，我们还设计了一种纳米药物传递模型（DXMS@EXO），利用超声将 DXMS 加载到外泌体中，从而实现对炎症细胞的靶向递送，提高药物疗效。DXMS@EXO 通过调节经典的 Wnt 信号通路抑制角膜碱烧伤模型中的炎症过程，从而促进角膜再上皮化和伤口愈合，加速角膜碱烧伤的修复过程。在治疗过程中，EXO 和 DXMS@EXO 均未表现出明显的副作用。本研究强调了 EXO 和 DXMS@EXO 在提高药物疗效和促进角膜碱烧伤修复方面的巨大潜力。
