Fabrication of anti-inflammatory nano eye-drops composed of dexamethasone prodrugs

Drug molecules cannot suitably permeate the cornea, but nano eye-drops may be used to improve intraocular drug permeation. We synthesized a homodimeric prodrug of dexamethasone in an anti-inflammatory drug with carbon chain linkers of varying lengths to establish a new prodrug and fabricated the corresponding dexamethasone nanoparticles. A longer carbon chain linker reduces the size of the nanoparticles and increases their hydrolysis resistance. The fabricated nanoparticles permeate into rat eye and then hydrolyze to release the drug. Thus, nano eye-drops seem to be a promising solution for the development of anti-inflammatory drugs with high intraocular permeation.