By: Veenu Choudhary

M.Pharm (Pharmaceutics) 1st Year

School of Pharmaceutical Sciences & Technology
Sardar Bhagwan Singh University, Balawala , Dehradun
 Introduction
 Composition of Eye
 Anatomy of Eye
 Barrier for drug delivery system
 An image of Ocular drug delivery barriers
 An image of Topical Administration
 Some patents on ocular drug delivery system
 Research reports from Pubmed
 Conclusion
 Ocular administration of drug is primarily associated with the
need to treat ophthalmic diseases.
 Eye is the most easily accessible site for topical administration
of a medication.
 Ocular dosage forms are commonly used to treat local ocular
disorders, e.g. infection and inflammation.
 The unique structure of the eye restricts the entry of drug
molecules at the required site of action.

• International journal of research in pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences,

basics of ocular drug delivery systems, P. Tangri, S. Khurana, vol. 2(4) oct-dec
2011
• David Jones in Pharmaceutics-Dosage Form & Design, First published 2008,
Published by the Pharmaceutical Press An imprint of RPS Publishing 1 Lambeth
High Street, London SE1 7JN, UK 100 South Atkinson Road, Suite 206,
Grayslake, IL 60030-7820, USA, Page no. 135-147
 Water – 98%, Solid – 1.8%,
Organic element- Protein- 0.67%,
Sugar- 0.65%, NaCl- 0.66%
Other mineral element sodium,
potassium and ammonia – 0.79%

www.vision-care-guide.com
 The eye is an isolated, highly complex, and specialized organ for
photoreception. A complex of anatomy and physiology render it
a highly protected organ.
 The eye can be divided into two segments: anterior and
posterior.
 anterior segment: consists of front one-third of eye that
mainly includes pupil, cornea, iris, ciliary body, aqueous
humor, and lens.
 posterior segment: consists of the back two-thirds of the eye
that includes vitreous humor, retina, choroid, macula, and
optic nerve.
⃰ Aswani Dutt Vadlapuri, Kishore Cholkar, Supriya Reddy Dasari & Ashim K.
Mitra, Ocular Drug Delivery, Chapter-10, Page No:- 219-223.
 ANATOMY OF THE EYE
https://www.moorfields.nhs.uk/content/anatomy-eye20.09.2019
 Tear
• Tear film reduces the effective concentration of the
administrated drugs due to dilution by the tear turnover
(approximately 1 L/min), accelerated clearance, and binding
of the drug molecule to the tear proteins.
 Cornea
• It consists of three layers; epithelium, stroma and
endothelium, and a mechanical barrier to inhibit transport of
exogenous substances into the eye.
• Each layer possesses a different polarity and a rate-limiting
structure for drug permeation.
⃰ Neha and Mohamed Yasir, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Oxford College
of Pharmacy, Ghaziabad, UP, India, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, I.T.S
Paramedical college, Ghaziabad, UP, India. Volume 6, Issue 9, 220-265.
 Corneal Epithelium
• The corneal lipophilic nature of epithelium and tight junctions
among cells are formed to restrict paracellular drug
permeation from the tear film.
 Corneal Stroma
• The stroma is composed of an extracellular matrix of a
lamellar arrangement of collagen fibrils.
• The highly hydrated structure of the stroma acts as a barrier to
permeation of lipophilic drug molecules.

⃰ Neha and Mohamed Yasir, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Oxford College

of Pharmacy, Ghaziabad, UP, India, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, I.T.S
Paramedical college, Ghaziabad, UP, India. Volume 6, Issue 9, 220-265.
 Corneal endothelium
• It is the innermost monolayer of hexagonal-shaped cells, and
acts as a separating barrier between the stroma and aqueous
humor.
• The endothelial junctions are leaky and facilitate the passage
of macromolecules between the aqueous humor and stroma.
 Retina
• The elimination via the posterior route takes place by
permeation across the retina. One of the barriers restricting
drug penetration from the vitreous to the retina is the internal
limiting membrane (ILM).
• The ILM separates the retina and the vitreous, and is
composed of 10 distinct extracellular matrix proteins.
⃰ Neha and Mohamed Yasir, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, Oxford College
of Pharmacy, Ghaziabad, UP, India, Department of Pharmaceutical Science, I.T.S
Paramedical college, Ghaziabad, UP, India. Volume 6, Issue 9, 220-265.
 OCULAR DRUG DELIVERY BARRIERS

Rinda Devi Bachu, Pallabitha Chowdhury, Zahraa H.F. Al-Saedi, Pradeep K. Karla and
⃰
Sai H. S. Boddu, Ocular drug delivery barriers, Journals, Pharmaceutics 2018, volume
10, issue 1, 10.3390. 20.09.2019
 TOPICAL ADMINISTRATION
⃰Rinda Devi Bachu, Pallabitha Chowdhury, Zahraa H.F. Al-Saedi, Pradeep K. Karla and
Sai H. S. Boddu, Ocular drug delivery barriers, Journals, Pharmaceutics 2018, volume 10,
issue 1, 10.3390. 20.09.2019
Patent no. Inventor Novelty

21453249 Srivastava R, et al. Various research reports

have been documented for
ocular drug delivery, both
on academic level as well
as commercial level
resulting in augmented
increase in the numbers of
patents in this field.
19075892 Conway BR, et al. The development of
therapeutic agents that
require repeated, long-term
administration is a driver
for the development of
sustained-release drug
delivery systems to result
in less frequent dosing and
Drug Polymer or Type of patch Remark Reference
Major
Excipients

dexamethasone
 Recently advance ocular drug delivery system have been
developed to produced controlled drug release into eye
segments such as liposome, nanoemulsion, contact lenses,
implant penetration enhancer etc.
 Ocular drug delivery has to overcome unique barriers
 Constantly increasing understanding of the absorption
processes offers new possibilities in the future.
 It seems that new tendency of research in ophthalmic drug
delivery systems is directed towards a combination of several
drug delivery technologies.
Thank You..!