| Rabbit Model for in vivo Study of Intervertebral Disc Degeneration and Regeneration. |
| Min Ho Kong, Duc H Do, Masashi Miyazaki, Feng Wei, Sung Hwan Yoon, Jeffrey C Wang |
1Department of Neurosurgery, Seoul Medical Center, Seoul, Korea. joenamu0@yahoo.co.kr
2Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Comprehensive Spine Center, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, USA.
3Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, College of Medicine, Oita University, Oita, Japan.
4Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, College of Medicine, Beijing University, Beijing, China.
5Department of Neurosurgery, College of Medicine, Inha University, Incheon, Korea. |
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| ABSTRACT |
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is to verify the usefulness of the rabbit model for disc degeneration study.
MATERIALS: The L1-L2, L2-L3, L3-L4, or L4-L5 lumbar intervertebral disc (IVD) of 9 mature male New Zealand White rabbits were injured by inserting a 16-gauge needle to a depth of 5 mm in the left anterolateral annulus fibrosus while leaving L5-L6 IVD uninjured. Three other rabbits also received intradiscal injections of rabbit disc cells transfected with adenovirus and bone morphogenetic protein-2 (ad-BMP-2) at L4-L5 in addition to injury by 16-gauge needle at the L1-L2 level. Using digitized radiographs, measurements of IVD height were made and analyzed by using the disc height index (DHI). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of the injured discs, injected discs, and uninjured L5-L6 discs were performed at 15 weeks post surgery and compared with preoperative MRI scans.
RESULTS
All twelve rabbits showed consistent results of disc degeneration within 15 weeks following annular puncture. DHIs of injured discs were significantly lower than that of the uninjured L5-L6 discs (p<0.05). The mean value of disc degeneration grade of injured discs was significantly higher than that of uninjured discs (p<0.05).
The injection of disc cell transfected with ad-BMP-2 did not induce disc regeneration at 15 weeks after injection.
CONCLUSION
This study showed that the injured disc had a significant change in DHI on simple lateral radiograph and disc degeneration grade on MRI scans within 15 weeks in all rabbits. Rabbit annular puncture model can be useful as a disc degeneration model in vivo. |
| Key Words:
Intervertebral disc; Animal model; Rabbit; Disc degeneration; in vivo |
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