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Amidic alginate hydrogel for nucleus pulposus replacement
Author(s) -
Leone Gemma,
Torricelli Paola,
Chiumiento Antonio,
Facchini Alessandro,
Barbucci Rolando
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.31334
Subject(s) - materials science , extracellular matrix , nucleus , hyaluronic acid , self healing hydrogels , viscoelasticity , rheology , glycosaminoglycan , biophysics , polysaccharide , intervertebral disc , biomedical engineering , composite material , polymer chemistry , chemistry , anatomy , biochemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , medicine
Abstract Degeneration of intervertebral discs is the most common cause of back pain. The first phase of this degenerative process involves the nucleus pulposus (NP). A rapid recovery of this structure can prevent further degradation of the annulus fibrosus. A new amidic derivative of alginate (AAA) was developed to obtain a polysaccharide possessing some of the physical–chemical properties of Hyal (i.e. viscosity) without losing the rigidity of the native alginate structure. The modified polysaccharide was crosslinked using 1.3 diaminopropane as crosslinking agent. The hydrogel obtained was characterized in terms of water uptake and rheological behavior. In particular, the viscoelastic behavior of the hydrogel was determined in shear stress under dynamic conditions and compared with the behavior of nondegenerated human lumbar NP. We then assessed the effect of the AAA hydrogel on NHC (Normal Human Chondrocyte) cell viability and on the production of important extracellular matrix factors, such as glycosaminoglycans and Type II collagen. In conclusion, the results achieved in this study demonstrated that the amidic alginate‐based scaffold is a promising material to be utilized in the replacement of NP. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res, 2008