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Intervertebral disc needle puncture injury can be repaired using a gelatin–poly (γ-glutamic acid) hydrogel: an in vitro bovine biomechanical validation

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Abstract

Purpose

The subtle impairments of the disc due to anular punctures may have an immediate effect on the functional integrity due to the altered intradiscal pressure, hence the subsequent catabolic degradation. This study evaluates functional restoration of needle puncture injured intervertebral discs with a newly developed injectable hydrogel using the quantitative discomanometry (QD) test. The proposed hydrogel is composed of gelatin and poly (γ-glutamic acid) (γ-PGA) and crosslinked with 1-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)-3-ethyl-carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC).

Methods

Thirty-six bovine motion segments were distributed into six groups. Needle puncture injured discs were created in all discs except for those in the first group (intact). The second group included injured discs that received no treatment (injury). The remaining four groups included injured discs repaired with injected hydrogels fabricated with different polymer solutions and EDC concentrations including: gelatin/γ-PGA solution crosslinked with the EDC solution at a 10:1 and 40:1 ratio to form the GP/E(10:1) and GP/E(40:1) groups, respectively, and gelatin and γ-PGA solution crosslinked with the EDC solution at a 10:1 ratio to form the G/E(10:1) or P/E(10:1) groups. The QD tests were performed to evaluate disc integrity of all six groups.

Results

Among all hydrogel repair groups, the GP/E(10:1) group was found to have the highest leakage and saturate pressure and was the only group comparable to the intact one.

Conclusions

Restoration of disc integrity secondary to needle puncture injury can be achieved via the repair with the newly developed gelatin hydrogel incorporated with γ-PGA and EDC.

Graphical abstract

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan (MOST 104-2221-E-002-121-MY3, MOST 104-2221-E-002-212-MY3, MOST 104-2314-B-016-001).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Medicine and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

    Jui-Jung Yang, Frank Li & Jaw-Lin Wang

  2. Department of Orthopaedics, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

    Jui-Jung Yang

  3. Institute of Polymer Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

    Kun-Che Hung & Shan-Hui Hsu

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, National Taiwan University, 602 Jen-Su Hall, 1 Section 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC

    Jaw-Lin Wang

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  1. Jui-Jung Yang
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Correspondence to Jaw-Lin Wang.

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The authors report no confict of interest concerning the materials or methods used in this study or the finding specified in this paper.

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Yang, JJ., Li, F., Hung, KC. et al. Intervertebral disc needle puncture injury can be repaired using a gelatin–poly (γ-glutamic acid) hydrogel: an in vitro bovine biomechanical validation. Eur Spine J 27, 2631–2638 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-018-5727-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-018-5727-5

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