In Situ Gelling Ophthalmic Systems Containing Herbal Bioactive: A Novel Approach for Ocular Therapy

Abstract

The globally known ocular diseases like dry eye syndrome, glaucoma, cataracts, conjunctivitis, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration—are leading causes of vision impairment. Conventionally available ocular formulations suffer from physiological barriers, such as high tear turnover, nasolacrimal drainage, and poor corneal permeability, resulting in low ocular bioavailability and poor patient compliance due to frequent dosing. Phytoconstituents offer significant therapeutic value via antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anti-angiogenic, and neuroprotective properties. Ophthalmic formulations that gel in situ offers enhanced precorneal residence time, improved ocular bioavailability, sustained drug release, reduced frequency of dosing and improved patient compliance. To provide a comprehensive review of phytoconstituents-loaded ocular in situ gelling systems, focusing on various methods used for formulation development, emerging polymers used and future perspectives for clinical translation and commercialization.  A thorough literature survey regarding ocular in situ gelling systems incorporating phytoconstituents was synthesized and utilization of emerging smart polymers for in-situ ocular gel was discussed. Phytoconstituent based ocular in situ gels surmount the major ocular drug delivery constraints by enhancing precorneal residence time, sustained drug release, improving ocular bioavailability, and minimising dosing frequency to increase patient compliance. Advanced drug delivery techniques like nanotechnology, smart stimuli-responsive polymers, and AI optimization will aid to unlock the full therapeutic potential of phytoconstituents and facilitating their successful commercial translation