Fungal keratitis infected eye treatment with antibiotic-loaded zinc ions tagged polyvinyl acetate phthalate-g-polypyrrole drug carrier

Abstract

Currently, the treatment of fungal keratitis (FK) infection remains a major clinical challenge, and current investigations, development in the field have widened approaches. The present work was aimed to synthesis a dual role novel carrier system consisting of Ofloxacin (OFL) and Nepafenac (NF) hydrophobic drugs incorporated in Zinc ions (Zn2+) tagged Polyvinyl acetate phthalate (PVAP) grafted Polypyrrole (PPy) carrier (OFL&NF-Zn2+/PVAP-g-PPy) to treat FK infection. The FT-IR, SEM, and dynamic light scattering revealed the carrier chemical structure, spherical shape, and the average particle size of 691.3 ± 1 nm. The carrier’s entrapment of OFL and NF drugs has been observed at 78.23% and 60.03%. The carrier exhibited significant antifungal activity at the concentration of 58 mg mL−1 against Candida albicans which was lower than that of the free ofloxacin. The cell viability results suggested up to 70 μg/mL concentration of OFL&NF-Zn2+/PVAP-g-PPy did not induce any cytotoxicity on cultured ADSC cells at 48 h treatment time. It confirms the fact that the OFL&NF-Zn2+/PVAP-g-PPy carrier showed good biocompatibility and good anti-fungal activity. Thus the carriers provide a significant potential to improve the bioavailability of topically applied drugs to treat fungal eye infection.

Keywords

• Fungal keratitis
• Infection
• Polymeric carrier
• Ocular drug delivery
• Ophthalmic drugs
• Zinc ions