Natural soft hydrogels are unique elastic soft materials utilized by living organisms for protecting delicate tissues. Under a theoretical framework derived from the Blob model, we chemically crosslinked high molecular weight hyaluronic acid at a concentration close to its overlap concentration (c*), and created synthetic soft hydrogels that exhibited unique rheological properties similar to a natural soft hydrogel: being dominantly elastic under low shear stress while being viscous when the stress is above a small threshold. We explored a potential application of the hyaluronic acid-based soft hydrogel as a long-acting ocular surface lubricant and evaluated its therapeutic effects for dry eye. The soft hydrogel was found to be biocompatible after topical instillation on experimental animals' and companion dogs' eyes. In a canine clinical study, twice-a-day ocular instillation of the soft hydrogel in combination with cyclosporine for 1 month improved the clinical signs in more than 65% of dog patients previously unresponsive to cyclosporine treatment.

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一种用于治疗干眼症的仿生合成软水凝胶

天然软水凝胶是独特的弹性软材料，被活生物体用来保护脆弱的组织。在源自 Blob 模型的理论框架下，我们以接近其重叠浓度（c*)，并创造了具有类似于天然软水凝胶的独特流变特性的合成软水凝胶：在低剪切应力下主要具有弹性，而在应力高于小阈值时则具有粘性。我们探索了基于透明质酸的软水凝胶作为长效眼表润滑剂的潜在应用，并评估了其对干眼症的治疗效果。在实验动物和伴侣犬的眼睛局部滴注后，发现软水凝胶具有生物相容性。在一项犬临床研究中，每天两次眼部滴注软水凝胶与环孢菌素结合 1 个月，改善了超过 65% 以前对环孢菌素治疗无反应的狗患者的临床症状。