Elastic Fibers in the Intervertebral Disc: From Form to Function and toward Regeneration

Divya Cyril; Amelia Giugni; Saie Sunil Bangar; Melika Mirzaeipoueinak; Dipika Shrivastav; Mirit Sharabi; Joanne L Tipper; Javad Tavakoli

doi:10.3390/ijms23168931

Elastic Fibers in the Intervertebral Disc: From Form to Function and toward Regeneration

Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Aug 11;23(16):8931. doi: 10.3390/ijms23168931.

Authors

Divya Cyril¹, Amelia Giugni¹, Saie Sunil Bangar², Melika Mirzaeipoueinak¹, Dipika Shrivastav¹, Mirit Sharabi³, Joanne L Tipper¹, Javad Tavakoli¹

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Health Technologies, School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
² Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics, Ariel University, Ariel 407000, Israel.

Abstract

Despite extensive efforts over the past 40 years, there is still a significant gap in knowledge of the characteristics of elastic fibers in the intervertebral disc (IVD). More studies are required to clarify the potential contribution of elastic fibers to the IVD (healthy and diseased) function and recommend critical areas for future investigations. On the other hand, current IVD in-vitro models are not true reflections of the complex biological IVD tissue and the role of elastic fibers has often been ignored in developing relevant tissue-engineered scaffolds and realistic computational models. This has affected the progress of IVD studies (tissue engineering solutions, biomechanics, fundamental biology) and translation into clinical practice. Motivated by the current gap, the current review paper presents a comprehensive study (from the early 1980s to 2022) that explores the current understanding of structural (multi-scale hierarchy), biological (development and aging, elastin content, and cell-fiber interaction), and biomechanical properties of the IVD elastic fibers, and provides new insights into future investigations in this domain.

Keywords: computational models; elastic fibers; elastic fibers development and aging; elastic fibers function; elastic fibers structure; intervertebral disc; tissue engineering.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Elastic Tissue
Humans
Intervertebral Disc Degeneration*
Intervertebral Disc*
Tissue Engineering
Tissue Scaffolds / chemistry

Grants and funding

J.T. and J.L.T. thank AO Spine and AO Foundation, Davos, Switzerland for their financial support through the AO Spine National Research Grant: AOSAUNZ(R) 2020-02 and 2022 AO Spine Discovery and Innovation Award: AOS-DIA-22-021-DEG.