STUDY DESIGN This study analyzed the effects of autografted nucleus pulposus on nerve root axon morphology, neurophysiologic function, and sodium channel expression. OBJECTIVES To investigate the chronic effects of the epidural implantation of nucleus pulposus on nerve root morphology, neural activity, ectopic discharge, mechanosensitivity, and sodium channel expression. SUMMARY OF BACKGROU...

BACKGROUND The nucleus pulposus is extremely deformable and it is not uncommon to observe strain amplitudes as large as 12.5% in physiological loading conditions. It has been shown that the nucleus pulposus contributes to the damping properties of the intervertebral disc. The quantification of the damping properties of the nucleus pulposus under physiological large deformations is then a key as...

INTRODUCTION Although transforming growth factor beta1 (TGFbeta1) is known to be a potent inhibitor of proliferation in most cell types, it accelerates proliferation in certain mesenchymal cells, such as articular chondrocytes and nucleus pulposus cells. The low ability for self-renewal of nucleus pulposus cells is one obstacle in developing new therapeutic options for intervertebral disc disea...

Intervertebral disc degeneration is the main cause of lumbago disease, in which the extracellular matrix structure and moisture in the nucleus pulposus is lost continuously. In this study, we aimed to detect differential expression of silence mating type information regulation 2 homolog 1 (SIRT1) and matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) in human intervertebral disc nucleus pulposus cells and to e...

Back pain related to intervertebral disc degeneration is the most common musculoskeletal problem, with a lifetime prevalence of 82%. The lack of effective treatment for this widespread problem is directly related to our limited understanding of disc development, maintenance and degeneration. The aim of this study was to determine the developmental origins of nucleus pulposus cells within the in...

BACKGROUND The present study was conducted to address whether the intervertebral disc of rabbit could be considered (i) as a valuable model to provide new insights into the tissue and cellular changes of Nucleus pulposus aging and (ii) as an appropriate tool to investigate the efficacy of Nucleus pulposus cell-based biotherapies. METHODS Lumbar intervertebral disc from rabbits with increasing...

Injectable constructs for in vivo gelation have many advantages in the regeneration of degenerated nucleus pulposus. In this study, an injectable hydrogel consisting of chitosan (CS) and hyaluronic acid (HA) crosslinked with glycerol phosphate (GP) at different proportions (CS : GP : HA, 6 : 3 : 1, 5 : 3 : 2, 4 : 3 : 3, 3 : 3 : 4, 2 : 3 : 5, 1 : 3 : 6, V : V : V) was developed and employed as a...

BACKGROUND Degrading enzymes play an important role in the process of disc degeneration. The objective of this study was to investigate the correlation between the expression of high temperature requirement serine protease A1 (HtrA1) in the nucleus pulposus and the T2 value of the nucleus pulposus region in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MATERIAL AND METHODS Thirty-six patients who had under...

Objective(s): To investigate the role of the microRNA-125a (miR-125a) and BAK1 in intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Materials and Methods: Degenerative lumbar nucleus pulposus (NP) tissues were obtained from 193 patients who underwent resection, and normal controls consisted of normal NP tissues from 32 patients with traumatic lumbar fracture in our hospital. All patients were graded acco...