The Role of Agarose Mechanical Response on the Matrix Synthesis of Nucleus Pulposus Cells: A Pilot Study

Low back pain is the most common spinal disorder and its main cause is intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration. IVD has a major role of withstanding loads generated in the spine during daily activities. However, it has a limited capacity for self-repair. Since it has an avascular structure, the pathways it uses for regeneration is quite complex and not yet well understood. The mechanical stimulation studies on the cell seeded constructs revealed that cells regulate their biosynthetic activity with cyclic loading [1,2]. The mechanical properties of the scaffold might play an important role in the transmission of mechanical signals to the embedded cells. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of agarose concentration on the amount of extracellular matrix synthesis in IVD cell seeded constructs under static culture and cyclic loading conditions.