Journal
JOVE-JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS
Volume -, Issue 122, Pages -Publisher
JOURNAL OF VISUALIZED EXPERIMENTS
DOI: 10.3791/55437
Keywords
Bioengineering; Issue 122; intervertebral disc degeneration; organ culture; functional spine unit; mouse; lumbar; high-throughput
Categories
Funding
- Washington University Musculoskeletal Research Center [NIH P30 AR057235]
- Molecular Imaging Center [NIH P50 CA094056]
- Mechanobiology Training Grant [NIH 5T32EB018266]
- NIH [R21AR069804, K01AR069116]
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Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is a significant contributor to low back pain. The IVD is a fibrocartilaginous joint that serves to transmit and dampen loads in the spine. The IVD consists of a proteoglycan-rich nucleus pulposus (NP) and a collagen-rich annulus fibrosis (AF) sandwiched by cartilaginous end-plates. Together with the adjacent vertebrae, the vertebrae-IVD structure forms a functional spine unit (FSU). These microstructures contain unique cell types as well as unique extracellular matrices. Whole organ culture of the FSU preserves the native extracellular matrix, cell differentiation phenotypes, and cellular-matrix interactions. Thus, organ culture techniques are particularly useful for investigating the complex biological mechanisms of the IVD. Here, we describe a high-throughput approach for culturing whole lumbar mouse FSUs that provides an ideal platform for studying disease mechanisms and therapies for the IVD. Furthermore, we describe several applications that utilize this organ culture method to conduct further studies including contrast-enhanced microCT imaging and three-dimensional high-resolution finite element modeling of the IVD.
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