Priming towards a discogenic phenotype and subsequent cryopreservation of microencapsulated bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs)may offer an attractive therapeutic approach for disc repair. It potentially obviates the need forin vivoadministration of exogenous growth factors, otherwise required to promote matrix synthesis, in addition to providing 'off-the-shelf' availability. Cryopreserved and primed BMSC microcapsules were evaluated in anin vitrosurrogate co-culture model system with nucleus pulposus (NP) cells under intervertebral disc (IVD)-like culture conditions and in anex vivobovine organ culture disc model.BMSCs were microencapsulated in alginate microcapsules and primed for 14 d with transforming growth factor beta-3 (TGF-β3) under low oxygen conditions prior to cryopreservation. For thein vitrophase, BMSC microcapsules (unprimed or primed) were cultured for 28 d in a surrogate co-culture model system mimicking that of the IVD. For theex vivophase, microcapsules (unprimed or primed) were injected into the NP of bovine discs that underwent nucleotomy.In vitroresults revealed that although NP cells produced significantly more matrix components in co-culture with BMSC microcapsules regardless of the differentiation state, unprimed microcapsules were inadequate at synthesising matrix as compared to primed microcapsules. However, this difference was diminished when evaluated in theex vivoorgan culture model,withboth unprimed and primed BMSC microcapsules accumulating large amounts of sulphated glycosaminoglycan (sGAG) and collagen and filling the defect cavity. Both models demonstrated that cryopreservation of BMSC microcapsules may offer a feasible strategy for predesigned delivery through cryobanking for on-demand regeneration of the IVD.