Abstract
In this study, six
in situ
gelling formulations based on Gelrite were prepared and evaluated for the retained ophthalmic delivery of Moxifloxacin (Mox). The effectiveness of the best developed formula G5 was compared with photodynamic therapy (PDT), the recent expanding approach for the treatment of ophthalmologic disorders after the assessment of optimum photodynamic inactivation parameters that permit efficient pathogens eradication. It was found that,
Staphylococcus aureus
(
S. aureus
) (Gram-positive) was more susceptible to effective lethal photosensitization that reaches 93.5% reduction in viable count than
Escherichia coli
(
E. coli
) (Gramnegative) of 76.1% using 3 mg/mL Hematoporphyrin (HP), illuminated by 630 nm Light Emitting Diode (LED) at 9 J/cm
2
and incubated for 15 min. Following topical instillation of G5 to rabbits corneas, higher amount of Mox was retained in the aqueous humor up to 24 h with significant 6-fold increase in the C
max
and AUC
(0-∞)
compared to vigamox® commercial eye drops. After post corneal infection with
S. aureus
, both approaches were effectively treating the infection without causing ocular irritation or collateral damage to corneal tissue where G5 showed remarkable improvement after four days compared to seven days of PDT treatment.