Miss Ola Deri

Research project: Novel ophthalmic inserts loaded with homoisoflavonoids: Synthesis, characterisation and biological evaluation studies.

Abstract

 Pterygium is a relatively common eye disease. It starts as a degenerative inflammatory process associated with cell proliferation, connective tissue re-modelling and angiogenesis. Pterygium is a ?bro-vascular mass which starts from the bulbar conjunctiva and spreads over the cornea chronically destroying the superficial layers of stroma and Bowman's membrane. It takes the shape of a triangular wing fold of the conjunctiva with neovascularization crawling onto the surface of the cornea.

To date, no direct cause of Pterygium has been identified. But still several factors are believed to be associated with developing this eye condition. Continues exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is described as the main risk factor. It has also been observed that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is significantly increased in pterygium, making anti-(VEGF) a possible promising candidate as a pterygium future treatment         

Natural products provide a vast pool of interesting chemical structures and chromophores for development as potential therapeutic agents. Homoisoflavonoids are naturally occurring compounds with an array of biological activities.  Recent work at Kingston University has highlighted the anti-angiogenic potential of these natural products

Conventional ocular dosage form has several drawback, therefore there is a need for a new system to overcome these drawbacks. Ocular inserts are a novel sterile polymeric preparations that are placed into the conjunctival sac. The aim of this project is to formulate polymeric ocular inserts loaded with, homoisoflavonoids via the solvent casting method. This can potentially increase the retention time of the homoisoflavonoids hence improving its efficacy and patients' compliance.