As a leading cause of vision impairment of the retina, macular edema (ME) has one of the highest clinical demands for treatment. Current treatment of ME relies heavily on invasive techniques resulting in complications and poor patient compliance. To enhance the efficiency of triamcinolone acetonide as eye drop to the posterior segment of the eye, we developed and characterized a novel formulation, namely, triamcinolone acetonide chitosan-coated liposomes (TA-CHL), prepared by the calcium acetate gradient method with some modifications. TA-CHL provided the mean particle size of 135.46 ± 4.49 nm and high entrapment efficiency (90.66 ± 3.21%), exhibited a sustained release profile, excellent physical stability, and no significant toxicity on cornea, conjunctiva, and retina. Optical coherence tomography system (OCT) was used to detect pharmacokinetics of CHL in vivo, indicating that CHL had good potency for drug delivery. Cellular uptake experiments showed CHL had the higher transduction efficiency into HCEC and ARPE-19 than liposomes. TA-CHL was shown to be potentially effective eye drop to contribute to the posterior segment of the eye.
Keywords: Chitosan; liposome; posterior segment; topical administration; triamcinolone acetonide.