Intervertebral Disc Tissue Engineering
There are currently no satisfactory procedures for regeneration or the prosthetic replacement of degenerated disc tissue. Discectomy as a treatment for herniation and fusion as a treatment for the degenerative disc have long-term complications. Not only is load sharing altered with discectomies, but disc height decreases as well. Studies show that fusion alters the biomechanics of the spine and causes increased stresses at the junction between fused and unfused segments. Artificial disc replacement is still in its infancy and long-term results are not yet available. It has been suggested that an artificial nuclear implant comprised of certain materials could maintain disc height and load-bearing properties , but a mechanism of sealing the annular gap prevents this strategy. That there are no satisfactory techniques for treating disc lesions compels our work.
Our goal is the development of a collagen-based matrix as an implant to be used alone or seeded with cells to facilitate the regeneration of the intervertebral disc. The supposition is that a collagen-glycosaminoglycan (CG) scaffold will maintain, or substitute for, the fibrin clot necessary to support cell migration into and cell proliferation within the defect. Thus, implantation of the CG matrix alone may facilitate regeneration of disc tissue. However, anticipating that there may be insufficient host cell proliferation and migration into the CG scaffold we intend to also evaluate cell-seeded constructs using annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus cells, and mesenchymal stem cells.
Our ongoing studies in vitro and in vivo are evaluating how an array of variables affect disc regeneration.
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Other Resources Federal Grant Support information.
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