Abstract

The purpose of this investigation is to evaluate the capability of some water soluble polymers to adhere to the ocular surface and the effect of solution viscosity on precorneal residence. Captive bubble technique was used to study the desorption kinetics of those polymers from freshly enucleated, rabbit eyes under physiological conditions. It was shown that the contact angle on mucin-coated corneal surface was 38.2±1.6° measured by sessile bubble method, and sodium hyaluronate (HA) had the most appropriate corneal wettability although not decreasing the surface tension. At a similar solution viscosity, the retentive capability of the five viscolyers was in the order Carbopol (residence time 15 to 25 min)>HA (15 to 22 min)>polyvinyl alcohol≡hydroxy-propylmethylcellulose (10 to 15 min)>sodium carboxymethylcellulose (10 min), which demonstrated that the viscosity had different effects on the residence time of various viscolyers.