Formulation Development and Evaluation of In-Situ Polymeric Drug Delivery Implants Formed by Tattooing

This study demonstrates that a polymer and drug conjugate can be tattooed onto tissue and deliver drug in a sustained manner. A number of polymers and drugs were investigated in this study in the aims of developing a formulation that could achieve sustained drug delivery for 1-2 weeks. The polymers selected for testing were PDLG 5004, PDLLA-Glycerol, and PEG-PLA, and the drugs used in conjunction with these polymers were rifampicin, moxifloxacin, and dexamethasone. Varying formulas containing these polymer and drug combinations were tattooed onto three different tissue types: bovine pericardial tissue, porcine corneal tissue, and porcine sclera tissue. The drug release rates from these tattoos were determined and characterized after studying the release for up to 20 days. The release rate of dexamethasone from both PDLG 5004 and PDLLA-Glycerol when tattooed onto bovine pericardial tissue demonstrated the best release rate of the formulations tested, with up to 14 days of sustained release. This preliminary research into tattoo-based, polymeric drug delivery is promising, and has the possibility to be developed into a beneficial form of ophthalmic drug delivery that could be expanded to other areas of treatment as well.