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Investigation of Repurposing Pyridoxine and Vincristine as Novel Axonal Dieback Compounds to Treat Disc-Associated Low Back Pain
Abstract
Low back pain is a major global cause of disability. Aberrant nerve growth in degenerated discs is a common pathological feature and source of chronic disc-associated low back pain. Current treatments mainly address pain symptoms without targeting the root issue of nerve growth. This dissertation explores the potential repurposing of two compounds, pyridoxine (vitamin B6) and vincristine (a chemotherapy drug), as solutions for removing aberrant nerve fibers in the discs to alleviate pain. This work highlights two compounds that can potentially be repurposed for removing aberrant nerve fibers from the disc to treat disc-associated low back pain. While both compounds have known side effects related to nerve damage in their current therapeutic indications, their undesirable effects make them promising candidates for disc denervation. This work involves in vitro screening of potential axonal dieback compounds on rat dorsal root ganglia explants and human disc-derived cells, as well as in vivo studies assessing safety and therapeutic efficacy in a rat model of disc-associated low back pain. The findings affirm that pyridoxine and vincristine can be safely used as compounds to induce nerve dieback, offering a potential treatment for disc-associated low back pain.
Subject Area
Biomedical engineering|Pharmacology|Public health|Pathology
Recommended Citation
Lee, Fei San, "Investigation of Repurposing Pyridoxine and Vincristine as Novel Axonal Dieback Compounds to Treat Disc-Associated Low Back Pain" (2023). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI30814142.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI30814142