RT Journal Article
T1 Selective Laser Sintering 3D Printing of Drug-Loaded Intravitreal Implants
A1 Seoane Viaño, Iria
A1 Bendicho Lavilla, Carlos
A1 Alfassam, Haya
A1 Blanco Fernández, Bárbara
A1 Basit, Abdul Waseh
A1 Otero Espinar, Francisco Javier
K1 3D Printing of devices
K1 Additive manufacturing of drug products
K1 Chronicretinal diseases
K1 Intravitreal implants
K1 Modified drug release
K1 Selectivelaser sintering 3D printing
AB Frequent intravitreal injections are the standard treatment for chronicretinal diseases, but they are costly and inconvenient and carry potentialcomplications. Intravitreal implants have emerged as an alternative approachcapable of delivering sustained drug levels over extended periods. However,current implant manufacturing techniques, predominantly extrusion-based,present limitations when processing labile drugs. In this study, biodegradableimplants are introduced, fabricated via selective laser sintering (SLS)3D printing to achieve extended, controlled release of dexamethasone andriboflavin. By adjusting laser scanning speeds, diverse release profiles over7 months are generated, after which the implant matrix fully degrades in therelease medium. SEM-EDX and Raman spectroscopy confirmed uniform drugdistribution in the implant, while XRPD, FTIR, and DSC analyses indicated thatthe drugs remained stable postmanufacturing. Additionally, investigationswith ARPE-19 retinal cell cultures demonstrated excellent cytocompatibilityof the implant. Overall, the findings confirm that SLS 3D printing isa promising approach for manufacturing intravitreal implants. This techniquenot only offers compatibility with a wide range of pharmaceutical compoundsbut also enables the tailoring of drug release by controlling the porosityof the implant. Consequently, SLS-based implants may improve patientoutcomes by reducing injection frequency and associated complications.
PB Wiley
SN 1616-301X
YR 2025
FD 2025-07-24
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/43622
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/43622
LA eng
NO References  Seoane-Viaño, I., Bendicho-Lavilla, C., Alfassam, H., Blanco-Fernández, B., Basit, A. W., & Otero-Espinar, F. (2025). Selective Laser Sintering 3D Printing of Drug-Loaded Intravitreal Implants. Advanced Functional Materials, n/a, e08712. 10.1002/adfm.202508712
NO This work was partially supported by the Ministry of Science and Inno-vation of Spain (MICINN) [PID2022-142350OB-C21], Xunta de Galicia[Grupo de Referencia Competitiva, ED431C 2021/26]. I.S.-V. acknowledgesConsellería de Cultura, Educación e Universidade for her Postdoctoral Fel-lowship (Xunta de Galicia, Spain; ED481D-2024-011)
DS Minerva
RD 22 abr 2026