Purpose Disc degeneration, and associated low back pain, are a primary cause of disability. Disc degeneration is characterized by dysfunctional cells and loss of proteoglycans: since intervertebral tissue has a limited capacity to regenerate, this process is at present considered irreversible. Recently, cell therapy has been suggested to provide more successful treatment of IVD degeneration. To understand the potential of cells to restore IVD structure/function, tissue samples from degenerated IVD versus healthy discs have been compared.
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