Modification of contact lenses via metal-organic frameworks for glaucoma treatment

The prevention of blindness from glaucoma requires multiple treatments to lower intraocular pressure.Here,human contact lenses are modified with highly porous metal-organic frameworks with sustained release of brimonidine for prolonged glaucoma treatment.Various metal-organic frameworks were screened for their attachment to lenses,loading with brimonidine,and drug-release properties.Opti-mized therapeutic ocular lenses conjugated with MIL-101(Cr)frameworks maintain optical transparency and power.Coating of lenses with MIL-101(Cr)nanoparticles reduced brimonidine washout with tears and ensured a gradual and localized release of the drug into the eyeball through the cornea.The hybrid lenses provided a 4.5-fold better decrease in eye pressure,compared by area under the curve(AUC)value to a commercially available brimonidine tartrate solution.Therapeutic lenses did not induce any notable eye irritation or corneal damage in vivo.The newly devel-oped hybrid lenses are expected to provide a robust platform for the therapy and prevention of various ocular diseases.