University’s gels could help with lower-back condition

SCIENTISTS AT Sheffield Hallam University are developing “firstof-a-kind” gels that may remedy a condition which costs the NHS more than £1bn a year.

The team of researchers at the university’s Biomolecular Sciences Research Centre (BMRC) and Materials Engineering Research Institute (MERI) has obtained £300,000 to begin a new stage of testing hydrogels – a gel in which the liquid component is water – hoped to aid degenerative disc disease.

They could eventually be put through a medical trial period and applied in a clinical setting.

Disc degeneration is a common cause of lower back pain.

Between each vertebral body is a cushion called an intervertebral disc. Each one provides flexibility and absorbs the stress and shock the body incurs during movement and prevents the vertebrae from grinding against one another.

The intervertebral discs are the largest structures in the body without a vascular supply and when the disc degenerates it can alter the height and the mechanics of the spinal column, which can then cause severe back pain.

Dr Christine Le Maitre, a project leader from the BMRC, said: “Lower-back pain is an increasingly prevalent clinical condition and a key contributing factor of it is the degeneration of the intervertebral disc.

“There are three components needed to regenerate the disc: inhibiting the diseased environment, providing mechanical support and delivering stems cells, and this hydrogel is the first of its kind to provide all three components needed to regenerate the degenerated disc.

“We are also developing other hydrogels that can promote bone regeneration and increase bone density. This hydrogel could eventually be used to treat trauma injuries and bone fractures as well as osteoporosis.”

The funding for the project came from Arthritis UK, Medical Technologies IKC and the Medical Research Council.