Antibiotic gel squirted into the ear could provide a one dose cure for ear infections
A single-application bioengineered gel, squirted in the ear canal, could deliver a full course of antibiotic therapy for middle ear infections, making treatment of this common childhood illness much easier and potentially safer, finds a preclinical study led by Boston Children’s Hospital in collaboration with investigators at Boston Medical Center and Massachusetts Eye and Ear. The findings were published September 14 by the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Squirted into the ear canal, the gel quickly hardens and stays in place, gradually dispensing antibiotics across the eardrum into the middle ear. Previously, the eardrum (also called the tympanic membrane) was an impenetrable barrier. The bioengineered gel gets drugs past it with the help of chemical permeation enhancers (CPEs), compounds FDA-approved for other uses that are structurally similar to the lipids in the stratum corneum, the eardrum’s outermost layer. The CPEs insert themselves into the membrane, opening up molecular pores that allow the antibiotics to seep through.
Paper:http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/8/356/356ra120
PR:http://www.childrenshospital.org/news-and-events/2016/september-2016/antibiotic-gel-squirted-into-the-ear-could-provide-a-one-dose-cure-for-ear-infections
Corina Marinescu
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