Meta-Stable Emulsion Surfactant System for Dry Eye Lubrication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current dry eye treatments using aqueous solutions and charged phospholipids are costly, require special storage conditions, and may raise safety concerns, while existing surfactants for ocular use are limited, making it difficult to find suitable substitutes that maintain emulsion stability during autoclaving without causing discomfort or blurring.
Innovation Solution
A combination of primary and secondary surfactants is used to form a meta-stable oil-in-water emulsion that is stable during autoclaving and breaks rapidly upon application to the ocular surface, ensuring non-blurring and effective lubrication without stinging, using a surfactant combination that meets specific criteria for compatibility and pH stability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If aqueous solutions and charged phospholipids are used for dry eye treatment, then lubrication and evaporation reduction are achieved, but cost increases and special storage conditions are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a meta-stable emulsion that rapidly breaks down after application, delivering its lubricating function quickly and then dissipating. This allows the use of simpler, more economical surfactant combinations that don't require special storage conditions, as the emulsion performs its function and then disappears without needing long-term stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the stability parameter of the emulsion from fully stable to meta-stable, allowing it to remain stable during storage and handling but break rapidly upon application to the ocular surface. This parameter change enables the use of cost-effective surfactants while maintaining effectiveness.
2Stability of the object's composition
If existing surfactants are used to form emulsion, then emulsion stability is achieved, but autoclaving stability is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple surfactants with different properties to create a composite surfactant system. This composite approach allows the emulsion to achieve both meta-stability for storage and compatibility with autoclaving conditions, as the combination of surfactants compensates for the limitations of individual surfactants.
3Reliability
If surfactant concentration is increased to maintain emulsion stability, then autoclaving stability improves, but ocular discomfort and blurring increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the HLB value parameter of the surfactant combination to optimize the balance between emulsion stability and ocular comfort. By carefully selecting surfactants with appropriate HLB values, the patent achieves autoclaving stability without requiring excessive surfactant concentrations that would cause discomfort or blurring.
4Duration of action of moving object
If meta-stable emulsion is used for rapid differentiation on ocular surface, then lubrication duration is extended, but emulsion stability during storage is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a dynamic emulsion system that transitions from a stable state during storage to a rapidly differentiating state upon application. The meta-stable emulsion maintains stability long enough for proper storage and handling, then quickly breaks down when contacted by the ocular surface to provide extended lubrication.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses the ocular surface itself as an intermediary trigger that initiates the emulsion breakdown. The meta-stable emulsion remains stable until it contacts the eye, at which point the physiological conditions of the ocular surface act as a trigger for rapid differentiation and film formation.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The surfactant combination forms a meta-stable emulsion that rapidly differentiates on the ocular surface, providing long-lasting lubrication and reducing evaporation, while being stable during autoclaving and non-irritating, thus addressing the limitations of existing dry eye treatments.
Implementation Method 1
a meta-stable oil-in-water emulsion is formed using a combination of surfactants as emulsifiers
Implementation Method 2
a combination of primary and secondary surfactants is used to form a meta-stable oil-in-water emulsion
Implementation Method 3
capable of providing mechanical lubrication while reducing evaporation of fluid
Implementation Method 4
Because the phospholipid, when applied to the eye, in one embodiment, carries a net negative charge, it is believed that aligned molecules repel each other preventing complex aggregate formation
Data Source
AI summary
This invention relates to an emulsion composition for the formation of an artificial tear film over the ocular surface of the eye capable of providing mechanical lubrication for the ocular surface while reducing evaporation of fluid therefrom. The emulsion is desirably in the form of a meta stable emulsion and is characterized by the use of a surfactant comprising a combination of a primary and secondary surfactant where the primary surfactant permits formation of the emulsion and the secondary surfactant permits autoclaving of the surfactant. The invention also includes a method for the formation of such an emulsion.