Joao Paulo Coelho

TL;DR: Treatment of punctured rabbit intervertebral discs with AAV2-BMP2 or AAV1-TIMP1 helps delay degenerative changes, as seen on MRI, histologic sampling, serum biochemical analysis, and biomechanical testing, which supports the potential use of gene therapy for the treatment of IDD.

TL;DR: Data support the potential use of therapeutic cells in the treatment of disc degeneration and suggest treatment of degenerating rabbit intervertebral discs with hUTC in a hydrogel carrier solution might help restore the MRI, histological, and biomechanical properties toward those of nondegenerated controls.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that degenerative cells have a decreased capacity to respond positively to beneficial levels of mechanical strain and demonstrate an exaggerated response to an inflammatory stimulus.

TL;DR: The data demonstrate that the net effect on matrix in an animal model in vivo, as measured by gene expression, magnetic resonance imaging, histology, and total proteoglycan is antianabolic.

TL;DR: In this article, the authors performed a randomized controlled animal study to determine if injection of a virus vector carrying a therapeutic gene directly into the nucleus pulposus improves the course of intervertebral disc degeneration.