This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Iontophoresis effectively administers aspirin in rabbit eyes
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
MIAMI — Iontophoresis was an effective method of administering aspirin to the eye in a rabbit study here. The coulomb-controlled iontophoresis administration also avoided some of the systemic side effects associated with intravenous injection, according to researchers at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute.
The researchers administered 10 mg/mL of aspirin either via a single intravenous injection, topical application or coulomb-controlled iontophoresis (CCI) into 41 adult rabbits. Pharmacokinetic distribution in all ocular tissues and fluids were studied at 30 minutes, 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours after the treatments.
No tissue damage was observed either clinically or histologically. Salicylic acid (SA) was found in all tissues and fluids throughout the study period. The highest concentrations of SA were observed with CCI immediately after treatment; the highest SA tissue peaks were with CCI as well. The IV administration demonstrated a delayed tissue peak of the aspirin at 2 hours after administration. After 8 hours, the ocular concentrations of aspirin were in the same range for CCI and IV administration.
The IV injection resulted in blood plasma levels up to 28 times higher than CCI, which remained significantly elevated until 8 hours after the treatment, study authors added.
The study is published in the October issue of Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science.