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

生物材料是一种天然或人工材料，可以模拟、储存或与活的生物细胞或液体密切接触。在过去的半个世纪里，生物材料呈现出稳定的增长，特别是在医学、生物学、化学、药学和材料科学等领域。生物材料的一些例子包括心脏瓣膜、血管、人工关节置换物、乳房植入物、人工晶状体（IOL）植入物和隐形眼镜（CL），其中后两者应用最广泛。全球有超过1.4亿人佩戴隐形眼镜，其中300万人居住在加拿大。大约90%的隐形眼镜佩戴者使用柔软的水凝胶镜片，通常在使用1天到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，粗略计算表明，仅在加拿大，每年就有大约3200万患者使用新的水凝胶cl或iol。这些物质直接接触到眼睛表面的泪膜或眼睛内的水体液，这是一种高度复杂的液体，含有各种蛋白质、脂质、离子、生长因子、代谢物和电解质。一旦接触到这些液体，cl和iol就会沉积各种成分，其中一些可能会引起炎症反应。进一步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的发展显然会引起眼部生物材料研究人员的兴趣，但这种方法也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业上可用的水凝胶隐形眼镜和IOL材料的表面，并研究它们与泪膜和内眼水幽默成分的相互作用。它将专门研究蛋白质和脂质沉积，试图提供具有更好的体内性能的材料。

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.