Biomaterials and Cell-Based Regenerative Therapies for Intervertebral Disc Degeneration with a Focus on Biological and Biomechanical Functional Repair: Targeting Treatments for Disc Herniation

The review discusses treatments for intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration, a common cause of low back pain and spinal disorders. Current treatments don't regenerate discs. Regenerative medicine offers cell-based and biomaterial-based therapies. These therapies are best for moderately degenerated discs where cells are declining, and the disc structure is starting to break down. The review outlines the challenges in applying these regeneration therapies and summarizes the literature. The article focuses on cell-based and soft biomaterial-based approaches for disc regeneration and repair therapy for IVD degeneration, including disc herniation.

• 1
  Cell-based therapies, such as transplanting autologous NP-derived cells, are physiologically natural and avoid graft-versus-host reactions. However, harvesting autologous cells is invasive, and the cell yield is relatively low.
• 2
  MSCs can differentiate into chondrogenic and IVD-cell lineages, promote tissue repair, and reduce inflammatory damage. Both autologous and allogenic MSCs are being investigated.
• 3
  Soft biomaterials for NP repair should accommodate both the biological and mechanical aspects of IVD repair and regeneration, including biocompatibility and improving biomechanical disc function and spinal stability.