Researchers from Taiwan recently discovered that Lovastatin, a cholesterol lowering medication, may have a positive healing effect on degenerated intervertebral disks. Patients involved in the studies were already undergoing spine surgery. The material removed from their intervertebral disks was observed and manipulated in the lab, a process known as in vitro tissue engineering.
In the first study, researchers added Lovastatin to the disk cells. They reported an increase in the number of cells in the nucleus pulpous, which is the soft center of the disk. They found that adding Lovastatin did not create toxicity, which sometimes occurs when drugs are taken. Researchers also noted an increase in the type of connective tissue that surround joints, and a decrease in the type that forms excessively fibrous tissue.
“Regeneration of the nucleus pulposus tissue in the early stage of intervertebral disc degeneration can theoretically retard or even reverse the degenerative process and possibly regain a healthy intervertebral disc,” says principal investigator Yang.. “Further studies are needed to determine the potentials of statins for regeneration and repair of degenerative disc disorders.”
In a related study, the researchers found that disk material extracted from the spines of young people were more responsive to medical intervention and tissue engineering. In Germany, spine surgeons are already transplanting medicated disk cells back into the same patient at one hospital in Germany.
The studies, entitled “Lovastatin Helps Re-Differentiation of Human Nucleus Pulposus Cells During Monolayer Expansion” and “Influences of Age-Related Degeneration on Regenerative Potential of Human Nucleus Pulposus Cells”, are being presented at the 55th Annual Meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society this week.
