Polymer Micelles Laden Hydrogel Contact Lenses for Ophthalmic Drug Delivery

Hydrogel contact lens is an attractive drug carrier for the delivery of ophthalmic drugs. But limited drug loading capacity and burst release restricted its application in this field. Polymer micelle laden hydrogel contact lenses were designed for ophthalmic drug delivery in the work. β-CD/PAA/PEG ternary system was chosen to form polymer micelle. The micelle size could be adjusted by β-CD content and PAA/PEG concentration. The zeta potential of micelle was irrelevant to β-CD content, but influenced by PAA/PEG concentration. The absorbed drug concentration in micelle solution depended on both β-CD content and PAA/PEG concentration. Polymer micelle laden hydrogels were obtained by radical polymerization in situ. The transparency of polymer micelle laden hydrogel declined with PAA/PEG concentration increasing. The equilibrium water content and water loss showed that polymer micelle laden hydrogel with higher PAA/PEG concentration was in a higher swollen state. The dynamic viscoelastic properties howed that all polymer micelle laden hydrogels had some characteristics of crosslinked elastomers. The surface structure of freeze dried composite hydrogels was different from freeze dried pure hydrogel. The drug loading and releasing behaviors were detected to evaluate the drug loading and releasing capacity of hydrogels using orfloxacin and puerarin as model drugs. The results indicated the polymer micelle in hydrogel could hold or help to hold some ophthalmic drugs, and slow down orfloxacin release speed or keep puerarin stably stay for a time in hydrogels. In the end, it was found that the transparency of composite hydrogel became better after the hydrogel had been immersed in PBS for several weeks.