Development and in vitro, ex vivo, in vivo investigation of curcumin loaded nanoparticles in management of dry eye disease

Dry eye disease is the most common ocular complication so far. The present treatment of DED is associated with a high frequency of administration, which affects patient compliance. We have formulated the curcumin-loaded nanoparticles by using HPMC E15 and Poloxamer 407 to target the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ (PPAR- γ). Nanoparticles were optimized by using a 32-factorial design to understand the impact of concentration of polymer (Poloxamer) and high pressure homogenizer (HPH) cycles on particle size, polydispersity index (PDI), and percent entrapment efficiency (%EE). Nanoparticles of particle size 170.2 nm, 0.341 PDI, and 90% EE with desirability 1 were selected as the optimized batch. The nanoparticles were further characterized for zeta potential, XRD, TEM, etc. In vitro drug release studies showed more uniform and sustained drug release (64.23 ± 3.81% CDR at 10 h). Histological study of formulation-treated goat cornea showed the non-irritating potential of formulation (ex vivo). Fabricated nanoparticles showed promising results in DED while investigating on mice. [Display omitted]