Investigating the physiological relevance of ex vivo disc organ culture nutrient microenvironments using in silico modeling and experimental validation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ex vivo disc organ culture systems have become a valuable tool for the development and pre-clinical testing of potential intervertebral disc (IVD) regeneration strategies. Bovine caudal discs have been widely selected due to their large availability and comparability to human IVDs in terms of size and biochemical composition. However, despite their extensive use, it remains to be elucidated whether their nutrient microenvironment is comparable to human degeneration.

Aims

This work aims to create the first experimentally validated in silico model which can be used to predict and characterize the metabolite concentrations within ex vivo culture systems.

Materials & methods

Finite element models of cultured discs governed by previously established coupled reac

SUBMITTER: McDonnell EE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8313156 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature