Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
biochemical factors. Patients of degenerative disc disease form the
majority of patients with back pain of spinal origin. The IVD under-
goes extrinsic morphological changes during their lifetime. In fact,
most of the adult population will have a degenerative disc by the
sixth decade of life. The current treatment options range from
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) to invasive proce-
dures, including spinal fusion and arthroplasty. Unfortunately these
treatments are not solving the root of the problem, which is the
degeneration of the IVD itself. As tissue engineering and regenera-
tiveresearchbecomemoreadvanced,thereisatrendtowardrevers-
ing the etiology of the disease, and much effort has been put into
regeneration of the IVD. 24
Six-week-old New Zealand white rabbits were euthanized, and
lumbardiscswereobtainedusinganosteotomebymeansofanante-
riorapproachinan enbloc fashionfromL1-L2toL7-S1IVD.TheAF
and NP tissue was aseptically dissected from the lumbar discs. AF
andNPcellswereculturedseparatelyinamixtureofequalvolumeof
F12/DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and
(4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonicacid)HEPESbuffer
1M. PLGA and fibrin/PLGA hybrid scaffolds were used—the same
onesas in section 16.3.2.
The total sGAG production was normalized by the dried weight
of each sample and represented as relative sGAG content in per-
centage (%). After one, two, and three weeks of in vitro culture, AF
cells cultured in fibrin/PLGA exhibited 0.290 ± 0.009, 0.341 ± 0.004,
and 0.443
0.014 relative sGAG content, respectively, while PLGA
exhibited0.255
±
0.007relativesGAG
content, respectively, after one, two, and three weeks. Apparently,
sGAG production was higher in fibrin/PLGA than in PLGA, and
the differences between sGAG production magnitudes were signif-
icantly distinguished by week 2 (1.07-fold, p = 0.04) and week 3
(1.23-fold, p = 0.0003), as shown in Fig. 16.4a. As shown in Fig.
16.4b, after one, two, and three weeks of in vitro culture, AF cells
cultured in fibrin/PLGA exhibited 0.169 ± 0.021, 0.276 ± 0.007, and
0.277 ± 0.018 relative sGAG content, respectively, while PLGA exhib-
ited 0.109 ± 0.017, 0.208 ± 0.0207, and 0.230 ± 0.005 relative sGAG
content,respectively,afterone,two,andthreeweeks.ThesGAGpro-
ductioninfibrin/PLGAwassuperiortoPLGAthroughoutthe invitro
±
0.025,0.319
±
0.45,and0.360
±
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search