Article In: scopus

Effect of plasma treatment on the performance of two drug-loaded hydrogel formulations for therapeutic contact lenses

Journal of Biomedical Materials Research - Part B Applied Biomaterials

Paradiso P.; Chu V.; Saramago B. — 2015 — Wiley

Key information

Authors:

Paradiso P. (Patrizia Paradiso); Chu V.; Santos L. (Luís Filipe da Silva dos Santos); Serro A.P. (Ana Paula Valagão Amadeu do Serro); Colaço R. (Rogério Anacleto Cordeiro Colaço); Saramago B. (Benilde de Jesus Vieira Saramago)

Published in

July 2015

Abstract

Although the plasma technology has long been applied to treat contact lenses, the effect of this treatment on the performance of drug-loaded contact lenses is still unclear. The objective of this work is to study the effect of nitrogen plasma treatment on two drug-loaded polymeric formulations which previously demonstrated to be suitable for therapeutic contact lenses: a poly-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (pHEMA) based hydrogel loaded with levofloxacin and a silicone-based hydrogel loaded with chlorhexidine. Modifications of the surface and the optical properties, and alterations in the drug release profiles and possible losses of the antimicrobial activities of the drugs induced by the plasma treatment were assessed. The results showed that, depending on the system and on the processing conditions, the plasma treatment may be beneficial for increasing wettability and refractive index, without degrading the lens surface. From the point of view of drug delivery, plasma irradiation at moderate power (200 W) decreased the initial release rate and the amount of released drug, maintaining the drug activity. For lower (100 W) and higher powers (300 W), almost no effect was detected because the treatment was, respectively, too soft and too aggressive for the lens materials.

Publication details

Authors in the community:

Publication version

VoR - Version of Record

Publisher

Wiley

Link to the publisher's version

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jbm.b.33287

Title of the publication container

Journal of Biomedical Materials Research - Part B Applied Biomaterials

First page or article number

1059

Last page

1068

Volume

103

Issue

5

DOI

10.1002/jbm.b.33287

Fields of Science and Technology (FOS)

materials-engineering - Materials engineering

Keywords

  • plasma treatment
  • drug release
  • contact lensmaterials
  • pHEMA
  • silicone

Publication language (ISO code)

eng - English

Rights type:

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