In vivo study on the angiogenic potential of gellan gum-based hydrogels for application in nucleus pulposus regeneration

Tissue engineering of nucleus pulposus (NP) offers a promising alternative strategy to current ineffective clinical approaches for treating intervertebral disc degeneration. Gellan gum-based hydrogels (ionic- and photo-crosslinked methacrylated gellan gum) have been recently proposed as potential candidates for NP regeneration. An important feature of these hydrogels will be their capacity to control blood vessel growth, since the NP is naturally avascular. Our aim was to investigate in vivo the angiogenic/antiangiogenic potential of the developed hydrogels, using an optimized adaptation of the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) assay.