Intervertebral disc biology, degeneration and novel tissue engineering and regenerative medicine therapies
S.M. Richardson1, A. Mobasheri2, A.J. Freemont1 and J.A. Hoyland1
1Tissue Injury and Repair Group, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK and 2Division of Veterinary Medicine, School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, University of Nottingham, Leicestershire, UK.
Offprint requests to: S. Richardson, Tissue Injury and Repair Group, School of Medicine, Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, University of Manchester, Stopford Building, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PT, UK. e-mail: s.richardson@manchester.ac.uk
Summary. Degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD) is a major cause of low back pain affecting a large percentage of the population at some point in their lives. Consequently IVD degeneration and its associated low back pain has a huge socio-economic impact and places a burden on health services world-wide. Current treatments remove the symptoms without treating the underlying problem and can result in reoccurrence in the same or adjacent discs. Tissue engineering offers hope that new therapies can be developed which can regenerate the IVD. Combined with this, development of novel biomaterials and an increased understanding of mesenchymal stem cell and IVD cell biology mean that tissue engineering of the IVD may soon become a reality. However for any regenerative medicine approach to be successful there must first be an understanding of the biology of the tissue and the pathophysiology of the disease process. This review covers these key areas and gives an overview of the recent developments in the fields of biomaterials, cell biology and tissue engineering of the IVD. Histol Histopathol 22, 1033-1041 (2007)
Key words: Intervertebral disc, Nucleus pulposus, Mesenchymal stem cell, Tissue engineering, Regenerative medicine
DOI: 10.14670/HH-22.1033