(1) Background: Low back pain (LBP) is often associated with intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD). Autochthonous progenitor cells isolated from the center, i.e., nucleus pulposus, of IVD (so-called pulposus (NPPCs)) could be a future cell source for therapy. The NPPCs were also identified to positive angiopoietin-1 receptor (Tie2). Similar hematopoietic stem cells, Tie2 might involved in per...

STUDY DESIGN In vitro experimental study. OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) on the extracellular matrix (ECM) synthesis of degenerative human nucleus pulposus cells and explore the molecular mechanism. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA LIPUS has been used successfully for bone fracture healing and been proved to be effective in stimulating ECM metabolis...

The nucleus pulposus is an aggrecan-rich, avascular tissue that permits the intervertebral disk to resist compressive loads. In the disk, nucleus pulposus cells express hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha, a transcription factor that responds to oxygen tension and regulates glycolysis. The goal of the present study was to examine the importance of HIF-1alpha in rat nucleus pulposus cells and ...

Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) stimulation has been shown to effect differentiation and activation of human chondrocytes. A study involving stimulation of rabbit disc cells with LIPUS revealed upregulation of cell proliferation and proteoglycan (PG) synthesis. However, the effect of LIPUS on human nucleus pulposus cells has not been investigated. In the present study, therefore, we inv...

UNLABELLED To evaluate the hyperalgesia and histological abnormalities induced by contact between the dorsal root ganglion and the nucleus pulposus. METHODS Twenty Wistar rats were used, divided into two experimental groups. In one of the groups, a fragment of autologous nucleus pulposus was removed from the sacrococcygeal region and deposited on the L5 dorsal root ganglia. In the other group...

Mesenchymal stem-cell based therapies have been proposed as novel treatments for intervertebral disc degeneration, a prevalent and disabling condition associated with back pain. The development of these treatment strategies, however, has been hindered by the incomplete understanding of the human nucleus pulposus phenotype and by an inaccurate interpretation and translation of animal to human re...

INTRODUCTION The cells of the embryonic notochord play an important role in formation of the spinal column, including the intervertebral discs (IVDs) (1). These cells become trapped inside the annulus fibrosus and reside within the nucleus pulposus at birth, but are generally lost during aging and replaced by small chondrocyte-like cells. The age at which the notochordal cells are lost varies s...