Natural gum modified mucin nanocarrier with enhanced mucoadhesion and transcornea infiltration for controlled drug delivery in ocular uveitis therapy

Abstract

Ocular uveitis are a major health concern due to the limited efficacy of current antibiotic eye drops. Conventional treatments require frequent application as they have less bioavailability and show slow drug action at the infection site. To address this, a novel eye drop formulation is developed using mucin based nanoparticles (Mu NP) that encapsulate ciprofloxacin. Mucin chain's COO⁻ groups interact electrostatically with cationic crosslinkers in ionic gelation technique to form NPs and then Mu NP is stabilized using xanthan gum for extended shelf life.TEM and DLS studies confirm variation in particle size and surface charge based on crosslinker concentration. In vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo biocompatibility tests show excellent safety, including < 4 % hemolysis ratio and passes the Draize test. The formulation has 95% drug encapsulation efficiency and controlled drug release rate with 40-50% release in the first 8 hours. In rabbit eye models, induced inflammation and bacterial infection are treated successfully within 3 and 7 days, respectively. The histopathological analysis of infected cornea proves the completion of internal healing. The high mucoadhesiveness of mucin enhances drug retention in aqueous humor (0.26 µg/mL) even after 8 hours outperforming commercial eyedrop. These findings suggest mucin NPs as a promising mucoadhesive drug delivery system for infectious and inflammatory eye diseases.