Interaction between Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Intervertebral Disc Microenvironment: From Cell Therapy to Tissue Engineering

Low back pain (LBP) in one of the most disabling symptoms affecting nearly 80% of the population worldwide. Its primary cause seems to be intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD): a chronic and progressive process characterized by loss of viable cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) breakdown within th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Stem cells international Vol. 2019; no. 2019; pp. 1 - 15
Main Authors: Papalia, Rocco, Russo, Fabrizio, Ambrosio, Luca, Vadalà, Gianluca, Denaro, Vincenzo
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cairo, Egypt Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2019
Hindawi
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Wiley
Subjects:
Back pain
Backache
Biological activity
Biological treatment
Biomechanics
Biomedical materials
Bone marrow
Cartilage
Cell therapy
Collagen
Degeneration
Extracellular matrix
Growth factors
Homeostasis
Hypoxia
Immunomodulation
Inflammation
Intervertebral discs
Kinases
Low back pain
Mechanical loading
Mechanical properties
Mesenchymal stem cells
Nucleus pulposus
Osmotic pressure
Phenotypes
Physiology
Proteins
Regeneration (physiology)
Regenerative medicine
Review
Stem cells
Therapy
Tissue engineering
Transplantation
Trophic factors
Viability
ISSN:1687-966X, 1687-9678, 1687-9678
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Low back pain (LBP) in one of the most disabling symptoms affecting nearly 80% of the population worldwide. Its primary cause seems to be intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD): a chronic and progressive process characterized by loss of viable cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) breakdown within the intervertebral disc (IVD) especially in its inner region, the nucleus pulposus (NP). Over the last decades, innovative biological treatments have been investigated in order to restore the original healthy IVD environment and achieve disc regeneration. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been widely exploited in regenerative medicine for their capacity to be easily harvested and be able to differentiate along the osteogenic, chondrogenic, and adipogenic lineages and to secrete a wide range of trophic factors that promote tissue homeostasis along with immunomodulation and anti-inflammation. Several in vitro and preclinical studies have demonstrated that MSCs are able to acquire a NP cell-like phenotype and to synthesize structural components of the ECM as well as trophic and anti-inflammatory mediators that may support resident cell activity. However, due to its unique anatomical location and function, the IVD presents distinctive features: avascularity, hypoxia, low glucose concentration, low pH, hyperosmolarity, and mechanical loading. Such conditions establish a hostile microenvironment for both resident and exogenously administered cells, which limited the efficacy of intradiscal cell therapy in diverse investigations. This review is aimed at describing the characteristics of the healthy and degenerated IVD microenvironment and how such features influence both resident cells and MSC viability and biological activity. Furthermore, we focused on how recent research has tried to overcome the obstacles coming from the IVD microenvironment by developing innovative cell therapies and functionalized bioscaffolds.
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Guest Editor: Yong-Can Huang
ISSN:1687-966X
1687-9678
1687-9678
DOI:10.1155/2019/2376172