Delivering drugs to effectively treat diseases of the back of the eye can be a challenging task. Although pharmacological therapies exist, drug delivery devices and techniques are not very effective at targeting delivery of drugs to the diseased tissues. This work introduces a novel approach to effectively deliver drugs to target tissues such as the choroid and retina. The approach involves a device, a hollow microneedle, to administer the drug formulation into a unique location in the eye, the suprachoroidal space. This new route of administration and a device to accomplish the delivery may provide an effective way to treat diseases of the choroid and retina. The first part of the work determines the ex-vivo feasibility of delivering materials within the suprachoroidal space. The results show that fluids and particles can be delivered into the suprachoroidal space of rabbit, pig and human eyes using a hollow microneedle. It further examines the important parameters for injection of the particles within the suprachoroidal space. The data shows that injection pressure and microneedle length are important parameters for effective delivery of particles. The results lead to a theory on the mechanism by which the particles are delivered into the suprachoroidal space. The second part of the research aims to develop a reliable in vivo delivery device and study the surface area coverage of materials injected into the suprachoroidal space. A hollow glass microneedle device is developed and for the first time shown to be effective in delivering a fluid into the suprachoroidal space in vivo. Up to 100 µL of India ink could be delivered into rabbit eyes in vivo and the spread within the suprachoroidal space is characterized. The results show that a single microneedle injection can cover a significant percentage of the available suprachoroidal space. This is the first study to examine the spread of a material injected into the suprachoroidal space of a live animal. A hollow metal microneedle device is also developed and shown to be effective. The device was able to inject up to 150 µL of latex into suprachoroidal space of fresh human cadaver eyes. The spread of latex is characterized and the results also show that a significant portion of the suprachoroidal space can be covered. The final part of the study examines the clearance of materials injected into the suprachoroidal space of rabbit eyes in vivo. First a comparison of a suprachoroidal injection to a conventional intravitreal injection shows that a suprachoroidal injection is more targeted to the chorioretinal tissues. In addition hollow microneedles are shown to effectively target macromolecules and a therapeutic antibody to the chorioretinal tissues. A study of the clearance kinetics show half lives within the suprachoroidal space on the order of several hours. Nano- and microparticles were also injected into the suprachoroidal space and showed very effective targeting. These non-degradable particles are shown to be present in the suprachoroidal space for months. Basic visual safety assessments identified no adverse effects from the injection of these materials. This represents the first study to compare intraocular clearance kinetics between a suprachoroidal injection and an intravitreal injection. It is also the first study to examine the clearance of a variety of materials from within the suprachoroidal space. Overall this work shows that microneedles have the capability to deliver a variety of materials into the suprachoroidal space of rabbit, pig, and human eyes. The injection can be done in a minimally invasive way with the proper design of an injection device and can target the chorioretinal tissues more effectively than the currently used method. In addition particles have long residence times in the suprachoroidal space, so a particle based drug formulation could provide sustained delivery to the eye. This work represents the first comprehensive study on using the suprachoroidal space as a drug delivery route and also the first study to use hollow microneedles to deliver formulations into the eye in vivo.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:GATECH/oai:smartech.gatech.edu:1853/47816 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Patel, Samikumar R. |
| Publisher | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | Georgia Tech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Dissertation |
Page generated in 0.0015 seconds