Repair Strategies and Bioactive Functional Materials for Intervertebral Disc

Abstract Intervertebral disc (IVD) degeneration is the leading cause of low back pain, which represents a highly prevalent chronic aging‐associated disorder with a large socio‐economic burden and a great decline in the quality of life, contributing to the pressing need for IVD treatments. Thus, finding effective disease‐modifying approaches for postponing the progression of IVD degeneration and repairing degenerated intervertebral discs is of great importance, even facing various challengeable obstacles. Bioactive functional materials exhibit excellent advances in modulating cell activity and remodeling tissue homeostasis, which acts as a promising and accessible therapeutic approach to tissue repair and organ reconstruction. Recently, these have been notably explored to investigate bioactive functional materials‐based repair strategies for intervertebral disc recovery and regeneration, including cell‐based tissue engineering, the development of implants for disc recovery, and therapeutic methods for remodeling the functional integrity of the IVD. This review summarizes the advanced progress of bioactive functional materials in IVD repair and regeneration, and discusses their regulatory mechanisms, limitations, challenges as well as their clinical translational prospects in the future.