Polymers 2022, 14, 4542. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14214542 www.mdpi.com/journal/polymers Article The Effect of Polysaccharides on Preventing Proteins and Cholesterol from Being Adsorbed on the Surface of Orthokeratology Lenses Ting-Yao Wu 1,† , Lung-Kun Yeh 2,3,† , Chen-Ying Su 1 , Pin-Hsuan Huang 1 , Chi-Chun Lai 2,3 and Hsu-Wei Fang 1,4, * 1 Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, National Taipei University of Technology, 1, Sec. 3, Zhongxiao E. Rd., Taipei 10608, Taiwan 2 Department of Ophthalmology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Linkou, No. 5, Fuxing St., Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan 3 College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, No. 259, Wenhua 1st Rd., Taoyuan 33305, Taiwan 4 Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanomedicine, National Health Research Institutes, No. 35, Keyan Road, Zhunan Town, Miaoli County 35053, Taiwan * Correspondence: hwfang@ntut.edu.tw † These authors contributed equally to this work. Abstract: The adsorption of tear film compositions such as proteins and lipids on the orthokeratol- ogy lenses often lead to infection or corneal damage. In order to investigate whether polysaccharides could prevent tear compositions from being adsorbed on the lens, alginic acid and lambda-carra- geenan were added into artificial tear solution. By measuring daily adsorption of cholesterol, lyso- zyme, and albumin, our results showed that polysaccharides could weakly prevent cholesterol ad- sorption. In addition, polysaccharides could also reduce albumin deposition over time. Although the effect of polysaccharides on lysozyme adsorption was distinct depending on the concentrations of polysaccharides, the overall results demonstrated that polysaccharides could decrease protein deposition over time. Our results provided an in vitro evidence that polysaccharides may be applied as coating materials on the lens or as the composition of artificial tear solutions or eyedrops, in order to prevent adsorption of tear film compositions that may lead to a reduced incidence of infection or corneal damage for orthokeratology lens wearers. Keywords: alginic acid; lambda-carrageenan; orthokeratology lens; cholesterol adsorption; protein adsorption 1. Introduction Myopia is one of the most common refractive errors affecting people [1]. Overnight wear orthokeratology lens (ortho-k lens) is made of rigid gas-permeable material by the design of reverse geometry to temporarily reduce low-to-moderate myopia during sleep, resulting in having normal vision during the day [2,3]. Moreover, ortho-k lenses have been used for myopia control in children [4]. Although the safety of wearing ortho-k lenses has been proven, corneal damage may occur when the lens is difficult to be re- moved from the eye due to tear composition attached on the lens [5]. Artificial tear solu- tion or eyedrop is commonly used before wear and before removing the lens from the eye, in order to improve dryness and reduce corneal damage. However, there are still many cases where the lens is stuck in the eye and cannot be removed in the morning [6]. The interaction between the ortho-k lens and the tear film is complex. Contact lenses are easily attracted to tear film compositions such as proteins, lipids, and enzymes [7]. We have previously demonstrated that proteins were easily adsorbed on the ortho-k lens in the presence of lipids, and protein deposition was saturated from day 14 while the lens Citation: Wu, T.-Y.; Yeh, L.-K.; Su, C.-Y.; Huang, P.-H.; Lai, C.-C.; Fang, H.-W. The Effect of Polysaccharides on Preventing Proteins and Cholesterol from Being Adsorbed on the Surface of Orthokeratology Lenses. Polymers 2022, 14, 4542. https://doi.org/10.3390/ polym14214542 Academic Editors: Arantxa Eceiza Mendiguren and Carmen S. R. Freire Received: 14 October 2022 Accepted: 19 October 2022 Published: 26 October 2022 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neu- tral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu- tional affiliations. Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Li- censee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and con- ditions of the Creative Commons At- tribution (CC BY) license (https://cre- ativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).