Collagen Peptide Presenting Nanofibrous Scaffold for Intervertebral Disc Regeneration

Abstract

Lower back pain (LBP) is a prevalent spinal symptom at the lumbar region of the spine, which severely effects quality of life and constitutes the number one cause of occupational disability. Degeneration of the intervertebral disc (IVD) is one of the well-known causes contributing to the LBP. Therapeutic biomaterials inducing IVD regeneration are promising candidates for IVD degeneration treatments. Here, we demonstrate a collagen peptide presenting nanofiber scaffold to mimic the structure and function of the natural extracellular matrix of the tissue for IVD regeneration. The collagen peptide presenting nanofiber was designed by using a Pro-Hyp-Gly (POG) peptide sequence on a self-assembling peptide amphiphile molecule, which assembled into nanofibers forming scaffolds. Injection of collagen peptide presenting peptide nanofiber scaffold into the degenerated rabbit IVDs induced more glycosaminoglycan and collagen deposition compared to controls. Functional recovery of the tissue was evaluated by degeneration index score, where the bioactive scaffold was shown to provide functional recovery of the IVD degeneration. These results showed that the collagen peptide presenting nanofiber scaffold can prevent the progression of IVD degeneration and provide further functional recovery of the tissue.

Designing a bioactive scaffold from coassembled collagen–laminin short peptide hydrogels for controlling cell behaviour

“…They showed the storage modulus of Col-PA/E-PA in the range of 1 kPa while we showed the storage modulus in the range of ∼1 kPa to ∼4 kPa for the CIP-LMP co-assembled gels. 38 Thus, the co-assembled systems offer an advantage to adjust the mechanical stiffness of the nanofibrous hydrogels by modulating the nature of the dopant peptide as well as the concentration of the individual peptide components.…”

“…These scaffolds were further explored for the prevention of progressive IVD (intra vertebral disc) degeneration. 38 However, both these reports demonstrated self-assembling octapeptide sequences, which were the smallest length collagen inspired peptides, reported so far. Hence, it would be extremely interesting to design even shorter peptides based on the native collagen structure (GXO), which would be easy to synthesize and can have the potential to achieve the similar structural complexity as well as functions of collagen.…”

Tissue Engineering the Pinna: Comparison and Characterization of Human Decellularized Auricular Biological Scaffolds

“…The staining methodology involved using both 0.1% Safranin-O (2 min) and 0.1% Fast Green (5 min) stains (Sigma-Aldrich), with more in depth details having been previously reported. 23 Finally, slides were imaged using a light microscope.…”

“…Paraffin-embedded specimens were processed onto microscope slides as described in the above section. The staining process involved a combination of Weigert’s hematoxylin, 2.5% aqueous phosphomolybdic-phosphotungstic acid, Bouin’s solution, working Biebrich Scarlet-acid fuchsin 1% aqueous solution, and 2.5% aniline blue solution (Sigma-Aldrich), with more in depth details having been previously reported …”

Intervertebral Disc Regeneration Injection of a Cell-Loaded Collagen Hydrogel in a Sheep Model

“…Since IVD degeneration is primarily due to the breakdown of matrix proteins such as collagen, the development of effective treatment strategies should focus on the regeneration of the ECM in addition to the cellular components. ECM-mimetic biomaterials for the efficient treatment of IVD degeneration are a promising therapeutic approach [ 19 ]. The use of collagen as an injectable biomaterial for the regeneration of both annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus tissues has been investigated in various research approaches [ 20 , 21 ].…”