Abstract:

Infectious keratitis is still one of the major causes of visual impairment and blindness, often affecting developing countries. Eye-drop therapy to reduce disease progression is the first line of treatment for infectious keratitis. The current limitations in controlling ophthalmic infections include rapid precorneal drug loss and the inability to provide long-term extraocular drug delivery. The aim of the present study was to develop a novel contact lens coating to treat corneal infection. Probiotics have been used to treated with pathogens for thousands of years which was not easy to develop drug-resistance. Here, we help the Lactobacillus plantarum adhered to the surface of contact lens via mussel-inspired chemistry and let it develop biofilm on the it. The biofilm consists of polysaccharides which is very biocompatible. Moreover, biofilm is living materials, so it will keep releasing bioactive substance from the coating.