Mini reviewPharmaceutical technology can turn a traditional drug, dexamethasone into a first-line ocular medicine. A global perspective and future trends
Graphical abstract
Section snippets
Dexamethasone and ocular diseases
Among all the corticosteroids available for the treatment of ocular diseases, dexamethasone (Fig. 1, 9-Fluoro-11,17,21-trihydroxy-16-methylpregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione) is one of the most prescribed worldwide (Rodriguez Villanueva et al., 2016a). It is used to treat a wide variety of ocular conditions, including diseases of both anterior segment inflammation (such as keratitis, blepharitis, allergic conjunctivitis, anterior uveitis and dry eye) and, recently, posterior segment inflammation (such
Dexamethasone pharmaceutical systems designed to treat anterior segment of the eye diseases
Challenges in the design of new systems to treat diseases affecting the anterior segment of the eye include increasing precorneal retention and corneal permeability. A multitude of attempts have been made to handle these challenges using conventional forms of dosage. One of the proposed strategies consists of modifying the mucoadhesivity of hydrogels. To achieve this, Kesavan et al. (2011) included tensioactives (Carbopol 980NF and NaCMC at 0.2% m/w and 0.4% m/w, respectively, for optimum
Systems designed for topical administration
Recently, some attempts have been made regarding retinal delivery of lipophilic drugs after topical administration using mixed nanomicelles. Mixed nanomicelles enhance the solubility of drugs and increase their penetration across the conjunctival epithelium, presumably by temporarily altering the tight junctions (Vadlapudi and Mitra, 2013). Nanomicelles formulated with dexamethasone and with a 7:3 ratio of polyoxyl 40 stearate and polysorbate 80 (2 amphiphilic surfactants approved by the FDA
An overview
Dexamethasone is one of the most commonly prescribed glucocorticoids. For ocular therapeutic uses, despite the controversy regarding the initial phases, dexamethasone can be stated to be effective and safe in a wide variety of ocular diseases. Furthermore, it is full of possibilities. In addition to the enormously popular anti-inflammatory effect, a novel pharmacological mechanism for the observed ocular neuroprotective activity has been proposed (Calvo et al., 2015). New developments in
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