Nanoceria is a Good Vessel for Delivering Drugs Directly Into the Eye

Sudipta Seal at the University of Central Florida in Orlando was testing cerium oxide nanoparticles, or nanoceria, for use as a catalyst to remove grime from oven walls, when he realised they might have medical applications.

Surprisingly, not only did nanoceria not irritate the eyes of rats and rabbits, in some cases they helped protect cells from light damage (New Scientist, 30 August 2003, p 16). Hence Seal realised that nanoceria might make a good vessel for delivering drugs directly into the eye.

Glaucoma involves an abnormal build-up of fluid inside the eye. Existing eye-drop treatments contain chemicals that don't attach to transport proteins very effectively, so only a small amount gets through the cornea. Now Seal and colleague Sanku Mallik have successfully combined nanoceria with a compound that blocks the hCAII enzyme, which is involved in producing fluid inside the eye (The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, DOI: 10.1021/jp067666l).

Source: NewScientist

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Advanced Glaucoma: Trabeculectomy With Minimal Intraoperative Manipulation Prevents Vision Loss

Shishir Agrawal, MS, DNB, FRCS announced that performing trabeculectomy with careful postoperative care and as minimal intraoperative manipulation as possible can assist in vision loss prevention in advanced glaucoma cases.

He and other doctors conducted a prospective study of 200 eyes with 5° or less of remaining visual fields due to advanced glaucomatous damage. He presented the findings at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting. All patients had a standard trabeculectomy performed without an antifibrotic agent. Follow-up was 1 month to 1 year. There was cataract progression in eight cases and uveitis in five, Dr. Agrawal said.

According to him, filtration surgery is strongly recommended in end-stage glaucoma. "We feel that it should be made a standard practice to operate such cases, so that the last bit of the important vision remains intact."

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