Intervertebral disc degeneration is a primary cause of low back pain and has a high societal cost. The pathological mechanism by which the intervertebral disc degenerates is largely unknown. Cell-based therapy especially using bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells as seeds for transplantation, although still in its infancy, is proving to be a promising, realistic approach to intervertebral disc re...

Z-discs are organizing centers that establish and maintain myofibril structure and function. Important Z-disc proteins are α-actinin, which cross-links actin thin filaments at the Z-disc and Zasp PDZ domain proteins, which directly interact with α-actinin. Here we investigate the biochemical and genetic nature of this interaction in more detail. Zasp52 is the major Drosophila Zasp PDZ domain pr...

BACKGROUND To investigate the effect of oxygen-ozone (O2-O3) injection on thoracolumbar intervertebral disc herniation (IVDH) in dogs. MATERIALS AND METHODS Ten herniated discs of five dogs were treated with percutaneous injection of an O2-O3 gas mixture with O3 concentration of 32 microg/microl intradiscally (1.5-2 microl) under fluoroscopy guidance. RESULTS Five weeks after treatment, the...

PURPOSE Noninvasive assessment of tissue mechanical behavior could enable insights into tissue function in healthy and diseased conditions and permit the development of effective tissue repair treatments. Measurement of displacements under applied loading with MRI (dualMRI) has the potential for such biomechanical characterization on a clinical MRI system. METHODS dualMRI was translated from ...

The goal of the study is to show the histological and biochemical changes that indicate the angiogenesis of the intervertebral disc in lumbar intervertebral disc hernia and the existence of epidemiological correlations between these changes and the risk factors of lumbar intervertebral disc hernia, as well as the patient's quality of life (QOL). We have studied 50 patients aged between 18 and 7...

OBJECTIVE To correlate spinopelvic balance with the development of degenerative spondylolisthesis and disk herniation. METHODS This was a descriptive retrospective study that evaluated 60 patients in this hospital, 30 patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis at the L4-L5 level and 30 with herniated disk at the L4-L5 level, all of whom underwent Surgical treatment. RESULTS Patients with ...

In a study of the epidemiology of acute herniated lumbar intervertebral discs in the New Haven, Connecticut, area, it was found that the female cases had had more pregnancies resulting in live births than women of similar age without known herniated discs. However, cases had not had more pregnancies resulting in miscarriages than other women of their age. Among women who underwent surgery for t...

The articulations of the spinal motion segment, the intervertebral disk, and the zygapophyseal joints, inevitably undergo age-related changes. This article focuses on the intervertebral disk, specifically when fissures sufficiently weaken the posterior annulus so as to allow herniation of nuclear material into the outer annular structure as a contained protrusion or breach the annulus and pass ...

A successful model to study both herniated intervertebral disks and spinal operations such as laminectomy has not been described. Two procedures were developed in nonhuman primates: One produces an elevated nerve root simulating a herniated disk; the second is a laminectomy that simulates the operation in humans. Twenty-five surgical procedures were performed with no complications. A myelograph...

The heat transfer equation was used to model the heat distribution in an intervertebral disk during ultrasound (US) exposure. The influence of thermal and acoustic parameters was studied to get a quantitative understanding of the heat transfer in the system. Heating of collagen to 65 degrees C or above will lead to denaturation and is believed to stabilize and contract the outer part of the dis...