Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) can lead to chronic low back pain (LBP) and dyskinesis with an increasing incidence of 80% due to the aggravation of aging society and the younger trend of degenerative diseases. Current clinical treatment of degenerative intervertebral disc (IVD) including interbody fusion and total disc replacement, which could not restore the biological structure and the inherent function of the disc. The emerging of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine prompt new insight to IDD treatment. In this study, we synthesized biocompatible layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanoparticles to promote the cartilage differentiation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUC-MSCs) validated by qPCR, immunofluorescence and Western blot analysis. The hydrogel with suitable biomechanical property and aligned structure was designed to form the supporting scaffolds loaded with LDH and the seeding hUC-MSCs, and the biomimetic nano-composite scaffolds were transplanted in the degenerative site of rat tail IVD discectomy model. X-ray, MRI and tissue paraffin staining were used to evaluate the repair effects of tissue-engineered IVD after 8-12 weeks transplantation, which clearly showed the recovery of disc space height and integrated tissue structure. In addition, transcriptome sequencing was used to investigate the significant regulating genes and signaling pathways corresponding to the enhanced intervertebral disc regeneration. In conclusion, we constructed available tissue-engineering bio-scaffolds for in situ IVD regeneration after transplantation, which would provide theoretical basis for clinical transformation of IDD treatment.

Tissue-engineered bioactive hydrogel loaed with layered double hydroxide nanoparticles for intervetebral disc regeneration in a rat discectomy model

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.