This disclosure relates to treating internal disc disruption or a connective tissue injury. The treatment involves injecting, or otherwise administering, a therapeutic composition into an animal, such as a human being, in need thereof. The therapeutic composition may contain transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) or transforming growth factor beta 2 (TGF-β2), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), and a pharmaceutically acceptable excipient or a secondary agent.

Provided are thiol-ene polymer networks which can reduce the ROS species that contribute to delayed bone healing and fusion. Furthermore, patients that suffer from neuropathic comorbidities such as diabetes suffer from a diminished healing capacity. An increase in proinflammatory factors and the high presence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) present in diabetics are linked to lower fusion rates. To this end, there is a need for a clinically relevant bone graft to promote bone fusions in patients with neuropathic comorbidities. Incorporating thiol-ene networks for bone scaffolds has demonstrated increased osteogenic biomarkers over traditional polymeric materials and act as antioxidants. Thiol-ene networks offer improved bone grafts for diabetic patients by reducing the number of hydroxyl radicals associated with neuropathic comorbidities. These networks are particularly well suited in promoting healing in patients with Type II Diabetes or other conditions exacerbated by ROS-mediated damage.

Skeletonized blood vessels for use as vascular grafts are protected from biomechanical injury and/or certain cellular and extracellular changes by application of a biocompatible hydrogel to the vessel exterior. The hydrogel may be applied to the vessel graft before or after harvesting from a donor patient.

Described herein are bioink compositions, which may have an elastic modulus similar to a natural tissue and/or tunable mechanical properties, along with methods of preparing and using the compositions. The compositions described herein may be useful as a medium for cell and/or tissue culture and/or for bioprinting, but are not limited thereto.

The present invention discloses a braided silk scaffold with adjustable mechanical and degradation properties, and a preparation method and use thereof, belonging to the field of three-dimensional scaffold materials for tendon/ligament repair. The preparation method includes braiding at least one silk strand to form a silk core; placing 1-6 bundles of silk cores in a braiding machine, and braiding at least one layer of silk cladding on the surface of the silk cores to form a silk base frame; removing sericin from the silk base frame; soaking the silk base frame in a collagen solution with a concentration of 3-20 mg/ml, and cross-linking the silk base frame in a vacuum thermal cross-linking machine to obtain the silk scaffold. The braided silk scaffold with adjustable mechanical and degradation properties according to the present invention has good mechanical properties and biocompatibility.

A method for instant lumbar spine fusion between two vertebrae in a patient includes establishing under X-ray fluoroscopy the location of the transpedicular notch of the next lower vertebra in caudal direction, making a percutaneous incision to the transpedicular notch, inserting a cannulated guide, drilling a transpedicular approach from the pedicle of the lower vertebra to the anterior part of the vertebral body of the vertebrae above the disc to be treated, inserting a working cannula through the previously drilled approach reaching the intervertebral disk, cleaning and scrapping the intervertebral disk space, inserting transpedicularly at least one intervertebral stabilizing screw, and acting on both intervertebral screws with screwdrivers in order to distract or contract both screws allowing to adjust or correct the intervertebral distance of the disk. The method can be performed on an outpatient basis.

The invention relates to a porous osteoinductive calcium phosphate material having an average grain size in a range of 0.1-1.50 μm, having a porosity consisting essentially only of micropores in a size range of 0.1-1.50 μm, and having a surface area percentage of micropores in a range of 10-40%.

The present disclosure provides improved biomaterials extracted from fibrous meniscal cartilage (FMC). The materials are at least partially decellularized and enzyme treated to remove at least a portion of the elastin and blood vessels found in FMC. Such biomaterials can be employed as tissue scaffolds, such as in transplant procedures.

Methods and compositions are provided for the regeneration of articular cartilage by activating skeletal stem cells with a combination of (i) mechanical and (ii) biochemical stimulus. The mechanical stimulus can be an acute local injury. The biochemical stimulus can be a combination of an effective dose of a BMP2 activating agent and a VEGF inhibitor.

The present disclosure relates to compressed bone compositions, bone implants, and variants thereof. The present disclosure also relates to methods of preparing compressed bone compositions, bone implants, and variants thereof. The present disclosure also relates to methods of using the bone compositions, bone implants and variants thereof.