Self-assembling peptide hydrogel for intervertebral disc tissue engineering

Wan, Simon; Borland, Samantha; Richardson, Stephen M.; Merry, Catherine L.R.; Saiani, Alberto; Gough, Julie E.

Abstract

Cell-based therapies for regeneration of intervertebral discs are regarded to hold promise for
degenerative disc disease treatment, a condition that is strongly linked to lower back pain. A de novo
self-assembling peptide hydrogel (SAPH), chosen for its biocompatibility, tailorable properties and
nanofibrous architecture, was investigated as a cell carrier and scaffold for nucleus pulposus (NP) tissue
engineering. Oscillatory rheology determined that the system would likely be deliverable via minimally
invasive procedure and mechanical properties could be optimised to match the stiffness of the native
human NP. After three-dimensional culture of NP cells (NPCs) in the SAPH, upregulation of NP-specific
genes (KRT8, KRT18, FOXF1) confirmed that the system could restore the NP phenotype following de-
differentiation during monolayer culture. Cell viability was high throughout culture whilst, similarly to
NPCs in vivo, the viable cell population remained stable. Finally, the SAPH stimulated time-dependent
increases in aggrecan and type II collagen deposition, two important NP extracellular matrix components.
Results supported the hypothesis that the SAPH could be used as a cell delivery system and scaffold for
the treatment of degenerative disc disease.

Citation

Wan, S., Borland, S., Richardson, S. M., Merry, C. L., Saiani, A., & Gough, J. E. (2016). Self-assembling peptide hydrogel for intervertebral disc tissue engineering. Acta biomaterialia, 46, 29-40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2016.09.033

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 23, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Sep 24, 2016
• Publication Date: Sep 24, 2016
• Deposit Date: Aug 20, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 2, 2024
• Journal: Acta Biomaterialia
• Print ISSN: 1742-7061
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 46
• Pages: 29-40
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actbio.2016.09.033