Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Pharmacy - Department of Pharmaceutics

Aqueous ocular drops of ketorolac tromethamine (KT) are effective and safe for topical use in inhibiting postoperative inflammation of the eyes, reducing postoperative pain, reducing conjunctivitis with no alteration of corneal opacity, and do not increase intraocular pressure. Also, it can be considered as a viable alternative to corticosteroids in treatment of ocular inflammation in the presence of pathogens. Eye drops are favored due to cost advantage, greater simplicity of formulation development and production and the good acceptance by patients despite a little blurring. However, these conventional systems cannot be considered optimal in the treatment of vision-threatening ocular diseases as most of the drugs are washed from the eye and only less than 5% of the administered drugs could penetrate the cornea to reach the desired intraocular tissue due to various mechanisms as lacrimation, tear dilution, and tear turnover. Also, the high frequency of eye drop instillation is associated with patient non-compliance. Polymeric nanoparticles are ranged in size between 10-1000 nm. They are prepared from biocompatible and biodegradable polymers where the drug may be dissolved and entrapped or encapsulated or may be attached to a nanoparticles matrix to achieve controlled drug delivery. Several polymers such as chitosan, alginate and Eudragit have been widely used in pharmaceutical industry for nanoparticles synthesis. Cationic polymers probably have superior mucoadhesiveness due to their ability to develop molecular attraction forces by electrostatic interactions with the negative charges of the mucus

Issued also as CD