Intraocular Lens With Photothermal Conversion Properties Under Near-Infrared Irradiation

Nowadays,nearly 100 million people are suffering from cataract,and it’s the prior cause of visual impairment.As a common complication after cataract surgery,posterior capsular opacification(PCO)could bring secondary vision damage to the patients.Nd:YAG laser is currently the standard treatment of PCO,but it would potentially cause several complications.Various researchers had attempted to inhibit the growth of lens epithelial cells(LECs)and to prevent PCO,by modifying the properties of intraocular lens(IOL).However,new approaches are still in need to specifically influence the local LECs without affecting the surrounding tissues.Near-Infrared-triggered photothermal conversion has attracted much attention in the past few years.Nanomaterials with photothermal conversion properties has shown great potential in antitumor and antibacterial activities.To date,there has been only one research applied photothermal conversion to the prevention of PCO,and the preliminary results are quite promising.This research creatively deposited polydopamine/polyethyleneimine nano-coatings onto the edges of IOL,by using a efficient and environmental friendly CuSO4/H2O2-assisted dopamine oxidation and deposition technique.The material and biological properties of the modified IOL are characterized in detail.In general,this kind of PDA/PEI@IOL shows significant photothermal conversion ability under near-infrared irradiation,and is very effective in the cases of antibacterial activity and LECs inhibition.It could be potentially applied to the clinical prevention of PCO and intraocular inflammation in the future.