Degeneration of injured intervertebral disk affected by anterior longitudinal ligament destruction / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The spinal instability would accelerate the degeneration of normal disk. The injuries of anterior longitudinal ligament (ALL) and intervertebral disk were usually caused by cervical trauma, which leaded to spinal instability. Currently, there were few animal researches about the degeneration of injured intervertebral disk affected by ALL destruction.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the degeneration of injured intervertebral disk after spinal instability in the rabbit model of different degrees of ALL and disc destruction.METHODS: A total of 24 New-Zealand rabbits were randomly divided into intervertebral disk injury group (Group A, n=6), partial injury of ALL with disc injury group (Group B, n=6), injury of bony attachment point of ALL with disc injury group (Group C, n=6) and entirely injury of ALL with disc injury group (Group D, n=6). The L2-L3 intervertebral disk and ALL were injured through abdominal cavity. Different groups received different treatments. Computed tomography (CT) scans of the injured disc were performed at the postoperative 4 and 8 weeks, and the middle high of injured discs was calculated on CT sagittal reconstruction. Three rabbits were selected from each group. Hematoxylin-eosin staining of injured disc was performed after the animals were killed. Results were examined under the light microscope.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) At postoperative 4 weeks, the middle height of injured discs in Group D was decreased significantly compared with Group A (P Group C > Group B > Group A. (3) In conclusion, the injury of ALL would accelerate the degeneration of correspondingly injured disk, and the degree of injury of ALL was positively correlated with the degeneration of disk.