Ocular Lubricants Efficacy: Mucoadhesive Evaluation Using Rheological Methods

Polymer-based eye drops are the most drug delivery system used to treat the dry eye disease (DED). Therefore, the mucoadhesion between the polymer and the ocular mucin is crucial to ensure the efficacy of the treatment. In this context, the present study aimed to evaluate the potential use of in vitro methods to study the mucoadhesion of two Hyaluronic Acid (HA)-based eye drops solutions, HA 0.15% and 0.3% (w/v) to treat DED. Two rheological methods were performed to study the mucoadhesive properties of both formulations: tackiness testing and oscillation frequency sweep. In vitro tests on ARPE-19 cell line were performed using a 2D and a 3D dry eye model. The results showed HA 0.3% appeared to be tackier than HA 0.15% in both cases. In vitro tests on ARPE-19 have shown that pre-treated cells with HA showed a morphology more similar to the hydrated cells in both products, with a high survival rate. The in vitro techniques used in this study have shown to be suitable to evaluate and predict mucoadhesive properties and the efficacy of the eye drops on relief or treat the DED. The results obtained from these methods may help in inferring possible in vivo effects.