Review Article

Cell-Based Therapies Used to Treat Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease: A Systematic Review of Animal Studies and Human Clinical Trials

Table 3

Studies comparing the efficacy of MSCs and chondrocytes to regenerate lumbar intervertebral discs.

AuthorAnimal modelDegeneration modelCells transplantedMethod of cell administrationResults

Acosta Jr et al. [62]
Mini pigNucleotomyAllogeneic juvenile articular nondisc chondrocytes (JCs) and allogeneic bone marrow MSCs
Injection of MSCs or chondrocytes in fibrin carrier(i) Higher GAG and DNA content in JC group
(ii) JC group higher cartilage/collagen II production
(iii) JC cells viable at 12 months
(iv) MSCs not viable at 3 months and no evidence of PG production

Allon et al. [63] RatNucleotomyAllogeneic bone marrow MSCs and allogeneic NPCsBilaminar coculture pellets (BCPs) of MSCs and NPCs in a fibrin sealant(i) Increased disc height in BCP group – combined MSC + NPC
(ii) PG produced by BCP
(iii) Less viability of MSCs in disc compared to NPCs, otherwise no differences between MSCs and NPCs

Feng et al. [64]RabbitNucleotomyAutologous bone marrow MSCs and autologous NPCs Intradiscal injection MSCs and NPCs comparable in
(i) Maintaining disc height and T2 signal
(ii) Maintaining gene expression of aggrecan and collagen II
(iii) Producing PGs

BCP: bilaminar coculture pellets, GAG: glycosaminoglycan content, JC: juvenile chondrocytes, MSCs: mesenchymal stem cells, NPCs: nucleus pulposus cells, and PG: proteoglycans.