Division of Bioengineering, National University of Singapore.
J Tissue Eng Regen Med. 2012 Jul;6(7):528-35. doi: 10.1002/term.457. Epub 2011 Jul 29.
Most studies on the intervertebral disc (IVD) focus on the regeneration of the nucleus pulposus (NP). However, without a proper strategy to regenerate the damaged annulus fibrosus (AF), the NP replacements are bound to fail. Therefore the objective of this study was to investigate whether the use of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) to form cell sheets, and incorporating them onto silk scaffolds, has the potential to regenerate the annulus fibrosus. The BMSC cell sheets and silk scaffolds were wrapped around a silicone NP substitute to form a simulated IVD-like assembly. The simulated IVD-like assembly was cultured for 4 weeks in static conditions and it was shown that the BMSC cell sheets remained viable, with no significant change in cell numbers. Histological analysis showed that the BMSC cell sheets adhered well onto the silk scaffolds and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) were detected within the extracellular matrix (ECM). The ratio of collagen type I to collagen type II within the ECM of the BMSC cell sheets also decreased significantly over the period of culture. The results suggested that extensive remodelling of the ECM occurred within the simulated IVD-like assembly, and it is suitable for the regeneration of the inner AF.
大多数关于椎间盘（IVD）的研究都集中在髓核（NP）的再生上。然而，如果没有适当的策略来再生受损的纤维环（AF），NP 的替代物肯定会失败。因此，本研究的目的是探讨骨髓间充质干细胞（BMSCs）形成细胞片并将其整合到丝素支架上是否有可能再生纤维环。BMSC 细胞片和丝素支架包裹在硅胶 NP 替代物周围，形成模拟的 IVD 样组件。模拟的 IVD 样组件在静态条件下培养 4 周，结果表明 BMSC 细胞片仍然存活，细胞数量没有明显变化。组织学分析表明，BMSC 细胞片很好地附着在丝素支架上，细胞外基质（ECM）中检测到糖胺聚糖（GAG）。在培养过程中，细胞外基质中 I 型胶原与 II 型胶原的比例也显著下降。结果表明，在模拟的 IVD 样组件中发生了广泛的 ECM 重塑，适合内层 AF 的再生。
