Development and Evaluation of Biodegradable Nanofiber Insert Containing Hyaluronic Acid for Treatment of Dry Eye Syndrome

Conventional available therapies of dry eye face some challenges such as negative effect of preservatives in eye, frequent administration of eye drops and rapid elimination of drug resulting in poor bioavailability. Therefore, this study was conducted to prepare biodegradable nanofiber insert of hyaluronic acid (HA) along with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to treat dry eyes thereby overcoming limitations of ocular drug delivery. Nanofibers of HA (0.1%, 0.2% and 0.5%) with polyvinyl alcohol were formulated by electrospinning technique with a flowrate and voltage of 1 ml/h and 24 kV, respectively. Syringe (5 ml) was kept at a distance of 10 cm from the collector. Further, nanofibers were characterized for physicochemical, morphological, In vitro and In vivo studies. All the developed formulation were found to be stable with uniform thickness of 0.33-0.35 nm and a pH of 7.4 that prevents irritation of ocular surface. Moreover, formulations were shown to absorb less than 1% of moisture. The mechanical strength and folding endurance of nanofiber was found to be in the range of 10.90-36.202 gm and 272-320 folds, respectively, contributing to the flexibility of nanofibers. The drug loading efficiency of nano-fibers was found to be in the range of 93%-96%. Our results reveal that the developed nanofibers showed controlled drug release of 91.81% over a period of 12 h. The nanofiber insert was found to be safe and efficacious in managing dry eye syndrome when delivered to the ocular surface of mice.