Effects of Poly-L-arginine on the Permeation of Hydrophilic Compounds through Surface Ocular Tissues

Topical Ocular Drug Delivery: The Impact of Permeation Enhancers

Topical ophthalmic drug delivery targeting the posterior segment of the eye has become a key area of interest due to its non-invasive nature, safety, ease of application, patient compliance, and cost-effectiveness. However, achievement of effective drug bioavailability in the posterior ocular segment is a significant challenge due to unique ocular barriers, including precorneal factors and anatomical barriers, like the cornea, the conjunctiva, and the sclera. Successful ocular drug delivery systems require increased precorneal residence time and improved corneal penetration to enhance intraocular bioavailability. A promising strategy to overcome these barriers is incorporating drug penetration enhancers (DPEs) into formulations. These compounds facilitate drug delivery by improving permeability across otherwise impermeable or poorly permeable membranes. At the ocular level, they act through three primary mechanisms: breaking tear film stability by interfering with the mucous layer; disrupting membrane components such as phospholipids and proteins; and loosening epithelial cellular junctions. DPEs offer significant potential to improve bioavailability and therapeutic outcomes, particularly for drugs targeting the posterior segment of the eye. This review is focused on analyzing the current literature regarding the use of penetration enhancers in topical ocular drug delivery, highlighting their mechanisms of action and potential to revolutionize ophthalmic treatments.

Antimicrobial Efficacy of GS-2 on Reusable Food Packaging Materials for Specialty Crops

The European Union (EU) regulations mandate 10% of all food packaging to be reusable by 2030. United States (U.S.) exporters of specialty crops face new challenges in ensuring microbiological food safety using reusable packaging. A novel antimicrobial formulation consisting of ammonium carboxylate salt of capric acid and L-arginine (GS-2) was recently developed as a spray coating chemical for food packaging materials. In this study, we evaluated the antimicrobial efficacy of GS-2 against microbial strains representing three foodborne bacterial pathogens (Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica), one fungal spoilage organism (Aspergillus niger), and one surrogate viral pathogen (murine norovirus) on three reusable plastic materials (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, high-density polyethylene, and polypropylene) and one cardboard packaging material, respectively. Different chemical concentrations, exposure times, and storage conditions were individually evaluated for the relative antimicrobial efficacies of GS-2 against these microorganisms. Our results showed that GS-2 was highly effective for inactivating bacterial pathogens on both plastic and cardboard surfaces. For instance, 3% GS-2 achieved a >5 log CFU/in2 reduction in E. coli O157:H7, L. monocytogenes, and S. enterica on tested plastic surfaces at an exposure time of 60 min. However, its efficacy against A. niger and murine norovirus was less optimal, resulting in a ≤1 log CFU/in2 reduction on all tested surfaces. Based on our study, GS-2 demonstrated a strong potential as an antibacterial coating reagent for reusable food packaging materials to minimize pathogen contamination and ensure the safety of the specialty crops.

Enhancement in corneal permeability of riboflavin using cyclodextrin derivates complexes as a previous step to transepithelial cross-linking

Corneal cross-linking has been described as an effective treatment to slow the progression of keratoconus. The standard protocol entails corneal epithelial removal to allow the diffusion of riboflavin into the stroma. Although, de-epithelization can generate risks or complications that transepithelial cross-linking tries to solve or avoid. Different formulations were developed after verifying that hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HPβCD) and sulfobuthylether-β-cyclodextrin (SBEβCD) in a 20% concentration, increased the solubility of practically insoluble in water drugs such as riboflavin from 0.12 mg/mL to 0.35 mg/mL and 0.29 mg/mL respectively. These values were higher when chitosan and arginine were added to the formulation, showing solubility of 0.78 mg/mL when HPβCD concentration was not modified. Ex vivo corneal permeability was measured after having kept in contact bovine corneas with intact epithelium for 5 h with the 0.1 mg/mL riboflavin solution, the formulations developed and a reproduced nanoemulsion from another work. Riboflavin's permeability was increased when cyclodextrins, chitosan, and arginine were part of the formulations, compared to the control drug solution. The best permeability coefficient was reached when riboflavin was combined with 40% (w/v) HPβCD, 0.5% (w/w) arginine, and 0.5% (w/w) chitosan. After having carried out toxicity studies as bovine corneal opacity and permeability (BCOP) and Heńs Egg Test - Chorioallantoic Membrane Test (HET-CAM) it was verified that both, the active ingredients and the excipients of the different formulations were not harmful without generating irritation, loss of transparency or corneal permeability alterations. The results show the great potential of the ocular developed solution for their use in transepithelial cross-linking for keratoconus treatment.

Penetration Enhancers in Ocular Drug Delivery

There are more than 100 recognized disorders of the eye. This makes the development of advanced ocular formulations an important topic in pharmaceutical science. One of the ways to improve drug delivery to the eye is the use of penetration enhancers. These are defined as compounds capable of enhancing drug permeability across ocular membranes. This review paper provides an overview of anatomical and physiological features of the eye and discusses some common ophthalmological conditions and permeability of ocular membranes. The review also presents the analysis of literature on the use of penetration-enhancing compounds (cyclodextrins, chelating agents, crown ethers, bile acids and bile salts, cell-penetrating peptides, and other amphiphilic compounds) in ocular drug delivery, describing their properties and modes of action.

Permeation of proteins, oligonucleotide and dextrans across ocular tissues: experimental studies and a literature update

Proteins and oligonucleotides represent powerful tools for the treatment of several ocular diseases, affecting both anterior and posterior eye segments. Despite the potential of these compounds, their administration remains a challenge. The last years have seen a growing interest for the noninvasive administration of macromolecular drugs, but still there is only little information of their permeability across the different ocular barriers. The aim of this work was to evaluate the permeation of macromolecules of different size, shape and charge across porcine ocular tissues such as the isolated sclera, the choroid Bruch's membrane and the cornea, both intact and de-epitelialized. Permeants used were two proteins (albumin and cytochrome C), an oligonucleotide, two dextrans (4 and 40 kDa) and a monoclonal antibody (bevacizumab). Obtained data and its comparison with the literature highlight the difficulties in predicting the behavior of macromolecules based on their physicochemical properties, because the interplay between the charge, molecular radius and conformation prevent their analysis separately. However, the data can be of great help for a rough evaluation of the feasibility of a noninvasive administration and for building computational models to improve understanding of the interplay among static, dynamic and metabolic barriers in the delivery of macromolecules to the eye.

Penetratin, a potentially powerful absorption enhancer for noninvasive intraocular drug delivery

Intraocular drug delivery is extraordinarily hampered by the impermeability of defensive barriers of the eye. In this study, the ocular permeability of fluorophore-labeled cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), including penetratin, TAT, low molecular weight protamine, and poly(arginine)8, was investigated based on multilevel evaluations. The human conjunctival epithelial cell (NHC) was exposed to various CPPs to determine the cytotoxicity and cellular uptake. Ex vivo studies with rabbit cornea were performed using side-by-side diffusion chambers to evaluate the apparent permeability coefficients and acute tissue tolerance of the CPP candidates. Among all examined CPPs, penetratin shows an outstanding cellular uptake, by increasing more than 16 and 25 times at low and high concentrations, compared to the control peptide poly(serine)8 respectively. Additionally, the permeability of penetratin across excised cornea is 87.5 times higher in comparison with poly(serine)8. More importantly, after instilled in the conjunctival sac of rat eyes, fluorophore-labeled penetratin displayed a rapid and wide distribution in both anterior and posterior segment of the eye, and could be observed in the corneal epithelium and retina lasting for at least 6 h. Interestingly, penetratin showed the lowest ocular cell and tissue toxicities among all examined CPPs. The high ocular permeability of penetratin could be attributed to its amphipathicity and spatial conformation determined by circular dichroism. Taken together, these data demonstrate that penetratin is potentially useful as an absorption enhancer for intraocular drug delivery.

Effect of sperminated pullulans on drug permeation through isolated rabbit cornea and determination of ocular irritation

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of two sperminated pullulans (SP) with a different number of amino groups (SP-L, amino group content 0.124 mmol/g polymer; and SP-H, amino group content 0.578 mmol/g polymer) on the permeation of drugs through isolated rabbit corneas. Determination of corneal hydration levels and Draize eye tests were performed to assess the safety of SP both in vitro and in vivo. For 0.2% (w/v) SP-L and 0.2% (w/v) SP-H, the enhancement ratios (ERs) with dexamethasone of 1.34 and 1.42, respectively, were not statistically significant. For ofloxacin, tobramycin and sodium fluorescein, the ERs with 0.2% SP-L were 1.37, 2.02 and 2.12, respectively, and with 0.2% SP-H the ERs were 1.84, 4.69 and 6.87, respectively; these ERs were all statistically significant. Enhancement increased with increasing amino group content of the SP. The improved transcorneal drug absorption via the paracellular route indicated opening of the tight junctions in the corneal epithelium. Irritation tests indicated that 0.2% SP-L and 0.2% SP-H did not damage the corneal tissues.

[Functional arginine-containing amino acid sequences in peptides and proteins]

L-arginine is a source of nitrogen oxide and plays a great role in a number of other biochemical processes. Functions and prospects for practical application of five groups of arginine-containing amino acid sequences and synthetic polyarginine sequences are considered. The physiological characteristics of well-known arginine-containing peptides, such as RGD peptides, kyotorphin, and tuftsin, are described in detail. The English version of the paper: Russian Journal of Bioorganic Chemistry, 2008, vol. 34, no. 2; see also http://www.maik.ru

Polymeric Enhancers of Mucosal Epithelia Permeability: Synthesis, Transepithelial Penetration-Enhancing Properties, Mechanism of Action, Safety Issues

Transmucosal drug administration across nasal, buccal, and ocular mucosae is noninvasive, eliminates hepatic first-pass metabolism and harsh environmental conditions, allows rapid onset, and further, mucosal surfaces are readily accessible. Generally, however, hydrophilic drugs, such as peptides and proteins, are poorly permeable across the epithelium, which results in insufficient bioavailability. Therefore, reversible modifications of epithelial barrier structure by permeation enhancers are required. Low molecular weight enhancers generally have physicochemical characteristics favoring their own absorption, whereas polymeric enhancers are not absorbed, and this minimizes the risk of systemic toxicity. The above considerations have warranted the present survey of the studies on polymeric transmucosal penetration-enhancers that have appeared in the literature during the last decade. Studies on intestinal permeation enhancers are also reviewed as they give information on the mechanism of action and safety of polymers. The synthesis and characterization of polymers, their effectiveness in enhancing the absorption of different drugs across different epithelium types, their mechanism of action and structure-efficacy relationship, and the relevant safety issues are reviewed. The active polymers are classified into: polycations (chitosan and its quaternary ammonium derivatives, poly-L-arginine (poly-L-Arg), aminated gelatin), polyanions (N-carboxymethyl chitosan, poly(acrylic acid)), and thiolated polymers (carboxymethyl cellulose-cysteine, polycarbophil (PCP)-cysteine, chitosan-thiobutylamidine, chitosan-thioglycolic acid, chitosan-glutathione conjugates).

Ability of Poly-L-arginine to Enhance Drug Absorption into Aqueous Humor and Vitreous Body after Instillation in Rabbits

The effect of poly-L-arginine with a molecular weight of 35.5 kDa (PLA) on the ocular absorption of hydrophilic molecules after instillation was examined in rabbits in vivo. FITC-labeled dextran (3.8 kDa, FD-4) and pyridoxamine were used as model hyprophilic molecules for absorption. The potential toxicity of PLA was evaluated by microscopic observation of the cornea, production of TNF-alpha, and the thickness of the corneal epithelia and stroma. The concentration of pyridoxamine and FD-4 in aqueous humor 30 min after a single instillation of a solution of PLA was 29- and 16-fold higher than that without PLA, respectively, but the drug concentrations were not determined in the vitreous body. Repetitive instillation of PLA every 30 min for 150 min achieved 31.1- and 13.3-fold increases in pyridoxamine and FD-4 in aqueous humor, respectively. Furthermore, significant amounts of pyridoxamine and FD-4 were detected in the vitreous body after the repetitive instillation of PLA, even although very little of these drugs was detected in the vitreous body in the control eye without PLA. On the other hand, repetitive instillation of PLA did not induce any alteration of corneal epithelial and stromal thickness, production of TNF-alpha, and disruption of the epithelial and stromal morphologies and neutrophil infiltration. Our findings suggest that PLA may be useful in promoting drug delivery of hydrophilic drugs to the ocular tissues without producing any significant corneal damage and inflammation.