Jui-Jung Yang, Frank Li, Kun-Che Hung, Shan-Hui Hsu, Jaw-Lin Wang


October 2018, Volume 27, Issue 10, pp 2631 - 2638 Original Article Read Full Article 10.1007/s00586-018-5727-5

First Online: 20 August 2018

Purpose

The subtle impairments of the disc due to anular punctures may have an immediate effect on the functional integrity due to the altered intradiscal pressure, hence the subsequent catabolic degradation. This study evaluates functional restoration of needle puncture injured intervertebral discs with a newly developed injectable hydrogel using the quantitative discomanometry (QD) test. The proposed hydrogel is composed of gelatin and poly (γ-glutamic acid) (γ-PGA) and crosslinked with 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethyl-carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC).

Methods

Thirty-six bovine motion segments were distributed into six groups. Needle puncture injured discs were created in all discs except for those in the first group (intact). The second group included injured discs that received no treatment (injury). The remaining four groups included injured discs repaired with injected hydrogels fabricated with different polymer solutions and EDC concentrations including: gelatin/γ-PGA solution crosslinked with the EDC solution at a 10:1 and 40:1 ratio to form the GP/E(10:1) and GP/E(40:1) groups, respectively, and gelatin and γ-PGA solution crosslinked with the EDC solution at a 10:1 ratio to form the G/E(10:1) or P/E(10:1) groups. The QD tests were performed to evaluate disc integrity of all six groups.

Results

Among all hydrogel repair groups, the GP/E(10:1) group was found to have the highest leakage and saturate pressure and was the only group comparable to the intact one.

Conclusions

Restoration of disc integrity secondary to needle puncture injury can be achieved via the repair with the newly developed gelatin hydrogel incorporated with γ-PGA and EDC.

Graphical abstract

These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.[Figure not available: see fulltext.]


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