Characterization of hydrogel biomaterials and their interaction with components of the human tear film

生物材料是天然或人工来源的材料，可以模仿、储存或密切接触活的生物细胞或液体。在过去的半个世纪里，生物材料表现出了稳定的增长，特别是在医学、生物、化学、药学和材料科学领域。生物材料的一些例子包括心脏瓣膜、血管、人工关节置换、乳房植入物、人工晶状体(IOL)植入物和隐形眼镜(CL)，其中后两种是使用最广泛的。全球超过1.4亿人戴隐形眼镜(CL)，其中300万居住在加拿大。大约90%的CL佩戴者使用柔软的水凝胶镜片，通常在使用1天至1个月后更换。加拿大每年进行25万例白内障摘除手术，其中95%以上将植入人工晶状体。因此，粗略的计算表明，仅在加拿大，患者每年就使用了大约3200万个新的水凝胶CLS或IOL。这些物质与眼睛表面的泪膜或眼睛内的房水直接接触，这些液体是高度复杂的液体，含有各种蛋白质、脂类、离子、生长因子、代谢物和电解质。一旦暴露在这些液体中，CLS和IOL就会沉积各种成分，其中一些可能会引发炎症反应。更好地了解各种沉积成分的数量和位置，将有助于我们进一步了解下一代眼部生物材料的发展。虽然研究蛋白质和脂质与水凝胶生物材料相互作用的方法显然会引起眼部生物材料研究人员的兴趣，但这种方法将适用于一般生物材料领域。该项目将使用许多独特的分析技术来表征新型和商用水凝胶隐形眼镜和人工晶状体材料的表面，并研究它们与泪膜成分和内眼房水体液的相互作用。它将专门研究蛋白质和脂肪的沉积，试图提供在体内具有更好性能的材料。

Biomaterials are materials of natural or artificial origin that can mimic, store, or come into close contact with living biological cells or fluids. Biomaterials have exhibited steady growth over the past half century, particularly in the areas of medicine, biology, chemistry, pharmacy and materials science. Some examples of biomaterials include heart valves, blood vessels, artificial joint replacements, breast implants, intraocular lens (IOL) implants, and contact lenses (CL), of which the latter two are among the most widely used. Over 140 million people worldwide wear contact lenses (CL), of which 3 million reside in Canada. Approximately 90% of CL wearers use soft, hydrogel lenses, which are typically replaced after being used for 1 day to 1 month. Each year, 250,000 cataract extractions are performed in Canada, of which over 95% will have an IOL implant inserted. Thus, a rough calculation would suggest that each year in Canada alone, some 32 million new hydrogel CLs or IOLs are used by patients. These materials come into direct contact with the tear film on the surface of the eye or the aqueous humour within the eye, which are highly complex fluids containing a wide variety of proteins, lipids, ions, growth factors, metabolites and electrolytes. Once exposed to these fluids, CLs and IOLs deposit various components, some of which may induce inflammatory responses. Obtaining a greater understanding of the quantity and location of various deposited components will help to further our understanding of the development of next generation ocular biomaterials. While development of methods to examine protein and lipid interactions with hydrogel biomaterials would obviously be of interest to ocular biomaterial researchers, such methods would be applicable to the general biomaterials arena. This project will use a number of unique analytical techniques to characterise the surface of novel and commercially-available hydrogel contact lens and IOL materials and to investigate their interaction with components of the tear film and aqueous humour of the inner eye. It will specifically look at protein and lipid deposition, to attempt to provide materials that have better in vivo performance.