INTRODUCTION
- Ocular diseases such as cataracts, macular degeneration, and degradation of the vitreous results in loss of vision affect millions of people.
- The vitreous body is an attractive location for drug delivery, via injections/implants.
- Current testing models for drug assessments have relied on the use of cadaver material or animal-derived vitreous, which, raise issues regarding availability, ethics and batch variations Although vitreous substitutes exist, many have limitations including biocompatibility, standardisation and release of toxic metabolites.
- Therefore there is a need for alternative materials or modifications of current formulations for translational ophthalmic researches.
- This project aims to characterise the physical, mechanical and biological properties of a number of hydrogels as candidate substitutes for human vitreous.