title: Development of a Large Animal Long-Term Intervertebral Disc Organ Culture Model That Includes the Bony Vertebrae for Ex Vivo Studies.
abstract: Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is a common cause of low back pain. Testing potential therapeutics in the regeneration of the disc requires the use of model systems. Although several animal models have been developed to investigate IVD degeneration, they are technically challenging to prepare, expensive, present with limitations when performing biomechanical studies on the disc, and are impractical in large-scale screening of novel anabolic and scaffolding agents. An IVD organ culture system offers an inexpensive alternative. In the current paradigm, the bony endplates are removed to allow for nutrient diffusion and maintenance of disc cell viability. Although this is an excellent system for testing biologics, it results in concave cartilage endplates and, as such, requires special platens for loading purposes in a bioreactor as flat ones can overload the annular disc region leading to improper loading. Furthermore, the absence of bone makes it unsuitable for applying complex cyclic loading, a topic of interest in the study of chronic progressive degeneration, as multiaxial loading is more representative of daily forces encountered by the IVD. We have developed and validated a novel long-term IVD organ culture model that retains vertebral bone and is easy to prepare. Our model is ideal for testing potential drugs and alternate-based therapies, in addition to investigating the long-term effects of loading paradigms on disc degeneration and repair.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Surgery, McGill University , Montreal, Canada .|2 Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research , Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada .
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.affiliation: 2 Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research , Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada .
authors.forename: Laura M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Epure
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Surgery, McGill University , Montreal, Canada .|2 Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research , Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada .
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Salem
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Surgery, McGill University , Montreal, Canada .|2 Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research , Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada .
authors.forename: Nizar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: AlGarni
authors.affiliation: 2 Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research , Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada .
authors.forename: Ovidiu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ciobanu
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Surgery, McGill University , Montreal, Canada .|2 Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research , Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada .
authors.forename: Motaz
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alaqeel
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Surgery, McGill University , Montreal, Canada .|2 Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research , Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada .
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Antoniou
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Surgery, McGill University , Montreal, Canada .|2 Orthopaedic Research Laboratory, Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research , Sir Mortimer B. Davis-Jewish General Hospital, Montreal, Canada .
authors.forename: Fackson
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mwale
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D007403:Intervertebral Disc / Q000166:cytology*; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000166:cytology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*