Treatment of Intervertebral Disc Degeneration in Wistar Rats with Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

We studied the effect of erythropoietin on functional properties of mesenchymal stem cells under conditions of oxidative stress and their therapeutic potential in the treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration in Wistar rats. It was shown that erythropoietin stimulates proliferation under conditions of oxidative stress. Injection of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells into the damaged intervertebral disc was followed by an increase in the height of the intervertebral disc and activation of repair processes in the nucleus pulposus. The combination of mesenchymal stem cells with erythropoietin provides the best effect of cell therapy in case of intervertebral disc damage.