Project 461561

Degeneration of the intervertebral disc can result in pain, neurological symptoms and difficulty in performing many of the acts of daily living. This disease is so common that approximately 1 in 50 Canadians become disabled by back pain at some point in their life. Currently, there is no optimal treatment for these individuals. Although the pain is rarely life-threatening, the cost in terms of lost productivity and suffering is significant. As well, the consequences of taking pain relieving therapeutics can result in side effects that have a negative impact on health. Thus, there is a great need to develop an entirely new approach to treat this disease. The goal of our research is to generate, using a developmentally inspired tissue engineering approach, a biological intervertebral disc in the lab composed of tissue which demonstrates hierarchal structure of the native disc and has functional weight bearing capability and also address the problem of implant fixation in a weight bearing site. This will allow progression towards our goal ultimately of developing a functional biological intervertebral disc tissue replacement and its translation into clinical use. As well these studies have the potential to identify new ways to regenerate intervertebral disc tissue and to support identification of new drugs to treat degenerative disc disease which will facilitate healthy aging.