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Bioactive electrospun scaffold for annulus fibrosus repair and regeneration

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Abstract

Purpose

Annulus fibrosus (AF) tissue engineering is gathering increasing interest for the development of strategies to reduce recurrent disc herniation (DH) rate and to increase the effectiveness of intervertebral disc regeneration strategies. This study evaluates the use of a bioactive microfibrous poly(l-lactide) scaffold releasing Transforming Growth Factor (TGF)-β1 (PLLA/TGF) for the repair and regeneration of damaged AF.

Methods

The scaffold was synthesized by electrospinning, with a direct incorporation of TGF-β1 into the polymeric solution, and characterized in terms of morphology and drug release profile. Biological evaluation was performed with bovine AF cells (AFCs) that were cultured on the scaffold up to 3 weeks to quantitatively assess glycosaminoglycans and total collagen production, using bare electrospun PLLA as a control. Histological evaluation was performed to determine the thickness of the deposited neo-ECM.

Results

Results demonstrated that AFCs cultured on PLLA/TGF deposited a significantly greater amount of glycosaminoglycans and total collagen than the control, with higher neo-ECM thickness.

Conclusions

PLLA/TGF scaffold induced an anabolic stimulus on AFCs, mimicking the ECM three-dimensional environment of AF tissue. This bioactive scaffold showed encouraging results that allow envisaging an application for AF tissue engineering strategies and AF repair after discectomy for the prevention of recurrent DH.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to gratefully acknowledge Dr. Franca Abbruzzese for her help in the cell viability analyses. The support of the Stem Cells Research Group of the Italian Society of Spine Surgery (GIS) and the Research Grant (PRIN2009) of the Italian Minister of Instruction, University and Research (MIUR) are gratefully acknowledged.

Conflict of interest

None.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedics and Trauma Surgery, CIR—Center for Integrated Research, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, via Álvaro del Portillo 200, 00128, Rome, Italy

    Gianluca Vadalà, Mattia Loppini & Vincenzo Denaro

  2. Tissue Engineering Laboratory, CIR—Center for Integrated Research, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, via Álvaro del Portillo 21, Rome, Italy

    Pamela Mozetic, Alberto Rainer, Matteo Centola & Marcella Trombetta

Authors
  1. Gianluca Vadalà
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  2. Pamela Mozetic
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  3. Alberto Rainer
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  4. Matteo Centola
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  5. Mattia Loppini
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  6. Marcella Trombetta
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  7. Vincenzo Denaro
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Correspondence to Gianluca Vadalà.

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Vadalà, G., Mozetic, P., Rainer, A. et al. Bioactive electrospun scaffold for annulus fibrosus repair and regeneration. Eur Spine J 21 (Suppl 1), 20–26 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-012-2235-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-012-2235-x

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