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Abstract
Intervertebral disc degeneration may cause chronic low back pain. Disc degeneration is characterized by dysfunctional cells and a decrease in extra-cellular components. Bone marrow derived mononuclear cells (MNC's) are a heterogeneous cell population which contains different stem/progenitor cells including mesenchymal stem cells. Transplantation of stem cells and other immature cell lines may provide a new approach to treat disc degeneration, however it is unclear whether transplanted cells can survive and differentiate in the non-vascularized disc tissue. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the feasibility of transplanting bone marrow derived MNC's to the intervertebral disc in a syngeneic rat model.