RT Journal
A1 LarsonIII, James W.
A1 Levicoff, Eric A.
A1 Gilbertson, Lars G.
A1 Kang, James D.
T1 Biologic Modification of Animal Models of Intervertebral Disc Degeneration
JF The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
JO The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery
YR 2006
FD April 1
VO 88
IS suppl_2
SP 83
OP 87
DO 10.2106/JBJS.F.00043
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.F.00043
AB Intervertebral disc degeneration is a chronic process that can become
manifest in clinical disorders such as idiopathic low back pain, sciatica,
disc herniation, spinal stenosis, and myelopathy. The limited available
treatment options (including discectomy and spinal fusion) for these and other
disabling conditions that arise from intervertebral disc degeneration are
highly invasive, achieve limited success, and only address acute symptoms
while doing nothing to halt the process of degeneration. Although the precise
pathophysiology of intervertebral disc degeneration has yet to be clearly
delineated, the progressive decline in aggrecan, the primary proteoglycan of
the nucleus pulposus, appears to be a final common pathway. Animal models as
well as in vitro studies of the process of disc degeneration have yielded many
potentially useful targets for the reversal of disc degeneration. One current
research trend is the use of established animal models of disc degeneration to
study the role of therapeutic modalities in reversing the process of
degeneration, often with use of the delivery of genes or gene products that
influence the anabolic and catabolic pathways of the disc. This article
reviews the ability of gene-product delivery systems and gene therapy to alter
biologic processes in animal models of disc degeneration and examines future
trends in this field.