A new in vivo method to retard progression of intervertebral disc degeneration through stimulation of endogenous stem cells with simvastatin.

Degenerative disc disease is a worldwide problem, however, conservative treatment and surgical treatment can only partly relieve symptoms, but do not have therapeutic effect on the degenerated intervertebral disc (IVD) itself. The use of stem cell transplantation has become one of the most popular treatments. With gradually understanding of the endogenous mechanism of stem cells migration and movement in vivo, endogenous IVD stem cells can be activated to repair and reconstruct the degenerated IVD. Nucleus pulposus mensenchymal stem cells exhibit more potent biological activity in the hypoxic environment of the IVD. Hypoxia inducible factor can regulate the energy metabolism of IVD cells by activating Glucose transporter 1 pathway. The simvastatin can enhance the theraprutic effect of many kinds of stem cells by increasing number and function of the stem cell. Herein we postulate that simvastatin can regulate the differentiation of nucleus pulposus mensenchymal stem cells into nucleus pulposus cell by promoting expression of hypoxia inducible factor to repair and reconstruct degenerated IVD.