Abstract Background Context Disc degeneration is the leading cause of low back pain and is
often characterized by a loss of disc height, resulting from cleavage of chondroitin sulfate
proteoglycans (CSPGs) present in the nucleus pulposus. Intact CSPGs are critical to water
retention and maintenance of the nucleus osmotic pressure. Decellularization of healthy
nucleus pulposus tissue has the potential to serve as an ideal matrix for tissue engineering
of the disc because of the presence of native disc proteins and CSPGs. Injectable in situ …