Antioxidant Carbon Dots Nanozyme Loaded in Thermosensitive in situ Hydrogel System for Efficient Dry Eye Disease Treatment

Abstract

Wei Wei,1,2,* Haili Cao,2,* Di Shen,2 Xiyu Sun,2 Zhenzhen Jia,1 Mingzhen Zhang1 1School of Basic Medical Sciences, Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Center, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710061, People’s Republic of China; 2Xi’an No.1 Hospital, Shaanxi Institute of Ophthalmology, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Clinical Research Center for Ophthalmology Diseases of Shaanxi Province, First Affiliated Hospital of Northwestern University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, 710002, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Zhenzhen Jia; Mingzhen Zhang, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial ocular surface disease with a rising incidence. Therefore, it is urgent to construct a reliable and efficient drug delivery system for DED treatment.Methods: In this work, we loaded C-dots nanozyme into a thermosensitive in situ gel to create C-dots@Gel, presenting a promising composite ocular drug delivery system to manage DED.Results: This composite ocular drug delivery system (C-dots@Gel) demonstrated the ability to enhance adherence to the corneal surface and extend the ocular surface retention time, thereby enhancing bioavailability. Furthermore, no discernible ocular surface irritation or systemic toxicity was observed. In the DED mouse model induced by benzalkonium chloride (BAC), it was verified that C-dots@Gel effectively mitigated DED by stabilizing the tear film, prolonging tear secretion, repairing corneal surface damage, and augmenting the population of conjunctival goblet cells.Conclusion: Compared to conventional dosage forms (C-dots), the C-dots@Gel could prolong exhibited enhanced retention time on the ocular surface and increased bioavailability, resulting in a satisfactory therapeutic outcome for DED.Keywords: dry eye disease, carbon dots nanozyme, thermosensitive in situ gel, composite ocular drug delivery system

Keywords

• dry eye disease
• carbon dots nanozyme
• thermosensitive in situ gel
• composite ocular drug delivery system