The chemotactic properties of various topical brimonidine tartrate ophthalmic preparations

Background The study aimed to evaluate and compare the leukocyte chemotactic activities of various brimonidine tartrate (BT) eye drop formulations. Methods A 96-well dot-blot platet using a Boyden-style well was used to study the chemotactic effects of BT ophthalmic preparations. A modification was made to create blind wells where the tested agents were placed. Leukocytes were isolated from the peripheral blood of healthy volunteers. As positive controls, we used diluted drugs, benzalkonium chloride solution (BAK), zymosan-activated serum, and formyl-methionine-leucine-phenylalanine peptides. The negative control in our study was a phosphate-buffered saline solution. For each experimental condition, we measured leukocyte migration through a Millipore membrane. The differences in the mean migration distance between groups were compared using the analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results The measured migration distances (in mu m +/- SD) were 62.14 +/- 3.71 for BT 0.2% with BAK (Alcon Laboratories Inc.); 63.61 +/- 3.81 for BT 0.2% with BAK (Allergan Inc); 40.36 +/- 3.17 for BT 0.15% without BAK; and 41.02 +/- 2.17 for BAK alone. The negative controls showed no chemotactic activity, while the positive controls showed the highest neutrophil migration of all experimental conditions. The differences between BT 0.15% without BAK and the other commercial formulations were statistically significant. Conclusion Commercial ophthalmic preparations of BT 0.2% with BAK 0.005% had higher chemotactic properties than the alternative of a lower concentration of BT and without the preservative BAK. Therefore, the latter should be considered for patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension in order to minimize iatrogenic ocular inflammation.