Intervertebral Disc Degeneration and Its Regeneration
A special issue of Cells (ISSN 2073-4409).
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 September 2023) | Viewed by 15181
Special Issue Editor
Interests: spine; intervertebral disc; biomaterial; stem cell; gene therapy; information technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The increasing incidence of intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration with age and its correlation with lower back pain, IVD herniation, and spinal canal stenosis is a remarkable trend in contemporary society. Although surgical treatments, such as discectomy and spinal fusion, are effective strategies, several complications have been reported, including reherniation and adjacent segment disease. These treatments do not focus on the etiology of IVD degeneration, which is poorly understood. Therefore, a novel and fundamental approach to treating IVD degeneration is highly anticipated.
Dysfunction is caused by degeneration in the IVDs as a result of several factors, including injury, aging, apoptosis of the nucleus pulposus, and mechanical overload, leading to diminished organization and repair of the extracellular matrix.
Biological methods of IVD repair have gained interest as alternative options to restoring degenerated IVDs using growth factor proteins to stimulate cell activity and increase extracellular matrix synthesis. Alternatively, to overcome the rapid biological clearance, some studies have demonstrated gene transfer into nucleus pulposus cells, which provides a continuous synthesis of therapeutic proteins. In addition, the injection of hydrogels or stem cells has been attempted in basic and translational research.
This Special Issue aims to summarize the current knowledge on the degeneration and regeneration of IVD.
We look forward to your contributions.
Prof. Dr. Hideki Sudo
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- intervertebral disc degeneration
- regeneration
- biomaterial
- stem cell
- gene therapy
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.