Rebuilding Ocular Surface Lubrication with a Light‐Triggered Hydration‐Lubricating Nanoplatform for Dry Eye Disease Therapy

ABSTRACT Dry eye disease (DED) is driven by tear film instability and increased blink‐induced interfacial friction, exacerbating epithelial injury and inflammation. The conventional treatments, including artificial tears and hydrogel/contact‐lens approaches, all fail to achieve sustained friction control due to limited lubrication durability, rapid clearance, surface dehydration, and foreign‐body sensation. Here we developed a light‐triggered hydration‐lubricating nanoplatform (PAM@HK) that simultaneously restored ocular surface lubrication and enabled on‐demand anti‐inflammatory therapy. PAM@HK was assembled from an amphiphilic block copolymer that integrated a phosphorylcholine segment to form a robust hydration layer for hydration lubrication and an azobenzene hydrophobic segment for light‐switchable honokiol (HK) release. The tribological tests under blink‐relevant load and shear revealed that PAM achieved ultralow friction across macroscopic and microscopic scales, evidencing stable hydration lubrication. The near‐infrared light irradiation triggered reversible photo‐isomerization to greatly accelerate HK release on demand. In DED mouse model, PAM@HK markedly restored corneal integrity and tear film stability, increased tear secretion, preserved conjunctival goblet cells, and suppressed interleukin‐6, reactive oxygen species, and pathological keratinization. This work positioned hydration lubrication as a primary therapeutic approach for DED and provided a new low‐invasive, light‐programmable strategy with superior durability and mechanistic relevance over conventional passive lubrication intervention.