Flavia Laffleur
University of Innsbruck, Austria
Title: Biomaterials a pathway to overcome biomembranes
Biography
Biography: Flavia Laffleur
Abstract
Dry eye – a disease affecting between 4 and 34 % of the population worldwide. Stressful conditions to ocular surface, contact lenses, systemic disease (e.g. antidepressants, thyroid disease and diuretics cause dry eye. Complaints are dryness and tear film instability as well as evaporation caused by ocular surface changes. Therefore, it was aimed to investigate novel synthesized hyaluronic acid derivate evaluating its potential in mucoadhesion and lubricant for the treatment of dry eye syndrome. Hyaluronic acid, a well-known biomaterial in the ocular delivery was chemically modified with cysteine ethyl ester (HA-CYS). HA-CYS was evaluated in terms of mucoadhesive strength on ocular mucosa. Stability measurements and lubricative assay were conducted in form of disintegration and water uptake capacity, respectively. Moreover, safety consideration proceeded with in vitro cell line. Most important Hen's Egg Test on the chorionallantoic membrane for the mucous membrane compatibility was evaluated. According to the results HA-CYS achieved due to this thiolation more pronounced mucoadhesive, stability and lubricative properties enhanced. 3.81-fold increased swelling capacity, 30.5- fold more improved mucoadhesive properties and 9.72-fold higher stability of hyaluronic acid was achieved due to the chemical modification. Thus, the promising results underpin further exploitation of this versatile polysaccharide for treating dry eye syndrome