Intervertebral Disc Degeneration in a Percutaneous Mouse Tail Injury Model.
Zuozhen Tian, Xiaoyuan Ma, Miersalijiang Yasen and 7 others
PMID 28863006WHAT IT FOUND
Puncturing mouse tail discs with a needle produced mild to moderate degeneration by 4 weeks, and Adam8 gene expression increased at all time points.
This is an animal model, not human therapy.
Key findings
01Needle injury to mouse tail discs produced mild to moderate histological degeneration by 4 weeks, and injured disc scores were significantly higher than intact controls at that time (p=0.0241).
02Adam8 gene expression was higher in injured discs than intact controls at 2 days, 1 week, 2 weeks and 4 weeks (p=0.004, p=0.018, p=0.003 and p=0.025).
03Cxcl-1 gene expression was higher in injured discs at 2 days and 2 weeks (p=0.023 and p=0.010), but not at 1 week or 4 weeks (p=0.850 and p=0.879).
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
This is a mouse tail disc injury study, not a human back pain study, so it does not show what happens to patients or what treatment should be changed. The mouse tail is non weight-bearing, and the paper states that its motion segment biomechanics differ from the human lumbar spine. The methods give inconsistent animal counts, with one count stated for mice used and another stated for animals used for tissue analysis. The sample per time point was small. Histological grading was subjective, and the paper states it can be insensitive to subtle differences. The injury produced only mild to moderate degeneration in this model. The study measured gene expression, not protein levels, and the paper states Adam8 protein level and tissue distribution have not been confirmed. The origin of cells filling the injured disc space was not determined. The needle injury creates acute nucleus pulposus herniation, which the paper states does not match all human disc conditions.
Declared interests
The supplied text lists research support as non-U.S. government, but gives no explicit conflicts of interest or funding declaration.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that needle injury, Adam8, or disc degeneration causes human back pain, or that any therapy should be changed. The study reports mouse tail disc tissue and gene changes, not patient outcomes, and the paper states the mouse tail differs from the human lumbar spine.