At present, the research regarding repair of spinal cord mainly focuses on tissue engineering. Neural tissue engineering materials provide three-dimensional template for tissue regeneration and also environment for synthesis of extracellular matrix. This paper summarizes the types of nerve transplant materials and the research progress in application for treatment of spinal cord injury, so as to provide theoretical evidence for repair of spinal cord injury. But some problems exist in application of nerve cell scaffold materials for repair of spinal cord injury: poor mechanical properties lead to slow degradation speed, causing difficulties in tissue reconstruction with respect to velocity and in subsequent reconstruction of porous three-dimensional scaffold. In recent years, novel biomaterials with specific repair function have been made by the engineering method through combining the biological molecule with specific signal identification function and available materials, which is an advanced projeot in the current field of biomaterials.

This paper is aimed to evaluate the biomechanism of monosegmental and bisegmental anterior fixation for thoracolumbar burst fracture. Twenty-four fresh porcine spines (T13-L3) were used in this study. Three of the fresh porcine spines were randomly selected as intact group, and the others were made into L1 burst fracture models. Fifteen of the twenty one fracture models fitting to the experimental requirements were divided randomly into five groups. Each of the specimens in the five groups and in the intact group underwent the tests of load-strain, load-displacement, stiffness and extreme limit bisegmental fixation group (P<0.05) loading. Data for the monosegmental fixation were insignificantly different on the load- strain and load-displacement tests from those for the bisegmental fixation (P>0.05), but were significantly different from those of the bisegmental fixation on the stiffness test, torsion test and limit loading test. Anterior monosegmental fixation is more stable and has stronger strain of axial compression than the bisemental fixation group. Resect pedicle group is insignificantly different from the monosegmental fixation group,so it is important to keep the pedicle integrity of injured vertebral body in surgery. The biomechanical stability of monosegmental fixation is feasible for thoracolumbar burst fracture.
Animals ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; methods ; Lumbar Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery ; Spinal Fractures ; surgery ; Swine ; Thoracic Vertebrae ; injuries ; surgery

Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is one of the major causes of low back pain. As current clinical treatments are aimed at restoring biomechanical function and providing symptomatic relief, the methods focused on biological repair have aroused interest and several tissue engineering approaches using different cell types have been proposed. Owing to the unsuitable nature of degenerate cells for tissue engineering, attention has been given to the use of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). In this connection, we have made a study on the characteristics of MSCs derived from adult bone marrow and on the feasibility of constructing IVD tissue-engineering cell under a Three-Dimensional Pellet Culture System. The human bone marrow MSCs were isolated and purified with density gradient solution and attachment-independent culture system. MSCs isolated using this method are a homogeneous population as indicated by morphology and other criteria. They have the capacity for self-renewal and proliferation, and the multilineage potential to differentiate.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Bone Marrow Cells ; cytology ; Cell Culture Techniques ; methods ; Cells, Cultured ; Chondrogenesis ; physiology ; Humans ; Intervertebral Disc ; Intervertebral Disc Degeneration ; therapy ; Mesenchymal Stromal Cells ; cytology ; Tissue Engineering ; methods ; Young Adult