Cellular Aging – Challenge for Intervertebral Disc Regenerative Therapy

Degenerative changes of the intervertebral disc (IVD) are agreed to be major cause of low back pain (LBP). LBP – with lifetime prevalence of 70% [1] – is the most prevalent health problem of the industrialized countries nowadays. More than this, a population survey in Switzerland revealed that 47% of women and 39% of men had back problems in the preceding 4 weeks – again representing the highest prevalence of all the reported health problems [2]. Back pain frequency, treatment and costs are the object to no less than 49 systematic reviews [3] and put tremendous pressure on worldwide healthcare and social systems…