Ophthalmology Commons^™

Pamam- Cyclodextrin Conjugate Upregulates Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor In Arpe-19 Cells, Gopika Ashokan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a major contributor to death and disability due to motorvehicle accidents, sports, physical abuse, and battlefield injuries. The primary insult to the brain leads to inflammation, vascular dysfunction, and oxidative stress in the brain as well as in the eye. This leads to loss of Retinal Ganglion Cells (RGCs) and downregulation of Brain derived Neurotopic Factor (BDNF). BDNF is a neurotrophic factor that binds to Tropomyosin Receptor Kinase B (TrkB) receptor to promote cell growth, survival, and differentiation. Current treatment strategies do not promote neuronal regeneration. Therefore, novel treatments are needed to restore vision …

Development And Implementation Of Telemetry Devices To Identify And Characterize Sources Of Intraocular Pressure Variability In Rats, Christina M. Nicou

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Eye health depends partially on intraocular pressure (IOP) as abnormal levels can lead to ocular tissue damage. Glaucoma is a neurodegenerative disease that affects nearly 80 million people worldwide [1]. It is associated with elevated IOP, which can lead to irreversible blindness. Relatively little is known about IOP dynamics and the physiological factors that affect it as IOP is typically monitored using tonometry. Tonometry is a common tool used by clinicians and researchers to measure IOP noninvasively. It provides a good estimate of IOP mean but not variance because data collection takes time. Readings can also be influenced by subject …

Two-Component Hydrogel As Biomimetic Vitreous Substitutes, Sruthi Santhanam

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The vitreous humor of the eye is a biological hydrogel principally composed of fibrillary collagen interspersed with semi-flexible polyelectrolyte, hyaluronic acid (HA). Certain pathological conditions necessitate its removal and replacement. Current vitreous substitutes, such as silicone oils and perfluorocarbons, are hydrophobic, do not resemble the properties of the vitreous, and have known complications. An ideal vitreous substitute should have properties of the natural vitreous, perform its functions, and be biocompatible in the eye. Inspired by the structure and composition of the natural vitreous, we used bio-mimicry to develop an injectable two-component hydrogel. The hydrogel is composed of a fibrillary gellan, …

Bioengineering In Vitro Human Trabecular Meshwork Models For Glaucoma Therapeutic Screening, Karen Yud Torrejon

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Glaucoma refers to a group of slowly progressing eye disorders that lead to damage to the optic nerve, resulting in irreversible vision loss. Recent statistics by the World Health Organization places glaucoma as a leading cause of blindness worldwide, affecting nearly 80 million people. Lowering intraocular pressure (IOP) is currently the only effective target for therapeutic intervention in glaucoma. IOP is mostly controlled by the outflow of the aqueous humor (AH) through the trabecular meshwork (TM). The TM and adjacent endothelium of Schlemm’s canal, known as the conventional outflow-tract, control AH outflow and thus determine IOP.

Dendrimer Based Nanotherapeutics For Ocular Drug Delivery, Siva Pramodh Kambhampati

Wayne State University Dissertations

PAMAM dendrimers are a class of well-defined, hyperbranched polymeric nanocarriers that are being investigated for ocular drug and gene delivery. Their favorable properties such as small size, multivalency and water solubility can provide significant opportunities for many biologically unstable drugs and allows potentially favorable ocular biodistribution. This work exploits hydroxyl terminated dendrimers (G4-OH) as drug/gene delivery vehicles that can target retinal microglia and pigment epithelium via systemic delivery with improved efficacy at much lower concentrations without any side effects.

Two different drugs Triamcinolone acetonide (TA) and N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) conjugated to G4-OH dendrimers showed tailorable sustained release in physiological relevant …