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Novel biomimetic aggrecan for the acellular regeneration of the intervertebral disc: synthesis, enzymatic stability and molecular engineering
Thesis   Open access

Novel biomimetic aggrecan for the acellular regeneration of the intervertebral disc: synthesis, enzymatic stability and molecular engineering

Sarah Eugenia Lightfoot Vidal
Master of Science (M.S.), Drexel University
Jun 2013
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/etd-4247
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Abstract

Biomimetic polymers Backache--Treatment Materials Science
Intervertebral disc degeneration and associated lower back pain is one of the leading musculoskeletal disorders confronting our health system with 15%-20% of the population experiencing lower back pain annually. It has been shown that early in disc degeneration the extracellular matrix is depleted of the proteoglycan, aggrecan, resulting in loss of disc hydration, osmotic pressure and mechanical stability which leads to lower back pain. This thesis concentrates on a new strategy to acellularly restore the extracellular matrix of the degenerated disc and mitigate lower back pain by molecularly engineering the disc matrix by introducing a novel class of molecules that mimic the 3D structure and physical properties of natural aggrecan, biomimetic aggrecan. Enzymatic degradation studies demonstrated that material properties of CS do not change when incorporated into biomimetic aggrecan. A fluorescent labeling technique for monitoring CS was successfully developed, with implications for imaging biomimetic aggrecan in natural tissue. Fluorescently tagged biomimetic aggrecan molecules had an affinity with the cells which suggests these molecules fully incorporate with the extracellular matrix of the nucleus pulposus.

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