Microfluidic device for controlled ocular drug delivery

Carlos Lavado Carreira

Key information

Authors:

Carlos Lavado Carreira (Carlos Lavado Carreira)

Supervisors:

Esmeralda Sofia Costa Delgado; Vânia Cristina Henriques Silvério (Vania Silverio)

Published in

December 12, 2022

Abstract

Proper drug concentration during treatment is a challenge faced in ocular diseases. The need for repeated administration of the drug over the course of days, weeks and even years, sometimes with 2-hours regularity, changes peoples’ lives, and is more problematic when it is dependent on a third party. To mitigate this issue, in this work a microfluidic device composed of hydrogel and a monolayer of graphene with 320 um is researched as an alternative, attempting to provide a controlled ocular delivery of drug, replacing the repeated administrations by its occasional substitution. The work focuses on the chronic dry eye disease in animals, for which there is not a viable cure and may require treatment for life. The device has a rectangular shape of 10x5 mm and is inserted in the cul-de-sac of the eye, with the graphene layer anterior facing and the hydrogel in contact with the conjunctiva and portion of cornea. The hydrogel composition includes hyaluronic acid, due to its lubricant and wound healing properties, and is biocompatible and safe. The active component is present at 0.5% w/v, 1% w/v and 2% w/v. Graphene growth conditions in CVD are studied and the resulting samples are characterized by Raman spectroscopy. In-vivo testing in the eye of a small dog was conducted as a proof of concept to test the device's biocompatibility and biofunctionality, with good results regarding the former and improvement needed in the latter, since the device was expelled in three different trials after a few hours.