Pathology and imaging performance of rabbit intervertebra 1 disc degeneration model induced by the aspiration of nucleus pulposus / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:The pathogenesis of intervertebral disc protrusion remains unclear.A stable and feasible intervertebral disc degeneration model is required to validate the pathology and imaging performance and to reveal intemal factors.OBJECTIVE:To investigate the feasibility of building rabbit model of intervertebral disc degeneration using aspiration method,as well as the convenience and stability of model establishment through the performance of pathology and imaging.MATERlALSA total of 4210-month-old healthy New Zealand rabbits,irrespective of genders,were randomly divided into control group and experiment group with 21 rabbits in each group.Sumianxin was offered by Veterinary Institute,Quartermaster University of Chinese PLA in Changchun City.METHODS:The disc height index(DHI)of all rabbit swas set as 100%.A21-gauge hypodermic needle was used to aspirate nucleus pulposus 8-12 mg from L4-5 disc of rabbits in the experiment group,while control group received no management. At 4,12.20 weeks,7 rabbits were selected from each group for index determination.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:DHI percent,X-ray plain film,MRI and Alcian blue staining were used to observe the changes in the intervertebral disc degeneration.RESULTS:The DHI percentage of experiment group at 4,12 and 20 weeks respectively was(81.0±3.2)%,(75.0±2.5)%and (71.0±1.8)%,with significant difference compared to control group(P＜0.05).T2-weighted image showed that the signal of the discs was significantly decreased,and Alcian blue staining showed that the content of aggrecan was also significantly decreased.CONCLUSI0NThe aspiration is a reliable and convenient way to construct rabbit models of intervertebral disc degeneration.and these models exhibit the similar pathology and imaging performance with human intervertebral disc degeneration.