Hybrid type of tissue engineered biodisc using annulus fibrosus seeded PLGA scaffold and nucleus pulposus seeded MPEG-PCL hydrogel: Preliminary study

Recently, it has been studied tissue engineered technique as novel approaches for treatment of the degenerative intervertebral disc (IVD). We designed the hybrid type of IVD mimicked scaffolds with poly(lactide-co- glycolide) (PLGA) and methoxypoly(ethyleneglycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone) (MPEG-PCL) diblock copolymers in order to application for the tissue engineered IVD. The MPEG-PCL solutions formed a gel-to-sol phase transitions as the temperature was increasesd. MPEG-PCL diblock copolymers were prepared by ring opening polymerization, and then nucleus pulposus (NP) cell was impregnated. Also, in order to restore annulus fibrosus (AF), we fabricated PLGA scaffold by solvent casting/salt leaching method. We confirmed disc cell function in manufactured scaffold through MTT assay in vitro and gross morphology and special staining in vivo for the possibility of the application of tissue engineering techniques.