• Spine · Oct 2015

    Alendronate Prevents Intervertebral Disc Degeneration Adjacent to a Lumbar Fusion in Ovariectomized Rats.

    • Zhuang Zhou, Fa-Ming Tian, Peng Wang, Yu Gou, Heng Zhang, Hui-Ping Song, Wen-Ya Wang, and Liu Zhang.
    • *Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China†Medical Research Center, Hebei United University, Tangshan, China‡Department of Orthopedic Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Hebei United University, Tangshan, China; and§Department of Pathology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Hebei United University, Tangshan, China.
    • Spine. 2015 Oct 15; 40 (20): E1073-83.

    Study DesignA model of disc degeneration adjacent to a lumbar fusion in osteoporotic rats.ObjectiveWe determined the effect of alendronate (ALN) on the disc degeneration adjacent to a lumbar fusion in ovariectomized rats.Summary Of Background DataAdjacent-segment disc degeneration (ASDD) is one of the negative sequelae of spinal fusion. Previous studies have shown that ALN can alleviate disc degeneration. However, no data have been documented regarding the effect of ALN on ASDD after posterolateral lumbar fusion (PLF) in osteoporosis.Methods50 female Sprague-Dawley rats underwent either a sham operation (sham) (n = 20) or bilateral ovariectomy (OVX) (n = 30). 4 weeks later, all but 10 rats from each group underwent PLF consisting of an intertransverse process spinal fusion using autologous-iliac-bone grafts with spinous-process wire fixation at the L4-L5 segment. Animals were subcutaneously administered vehicle (V) or ALN (70 μg/kg/wk) for 12 weeks post-PLF as follows: Sham+V, OVX+V, PLF+V, OVX+PLF+V, and OVX+PLF+ALN. Fusion status was analyzed by manual palpation and radiography. Adjacent-segment disc was assessed by histological, histomorphometric, immunohistochemical, and mRNA analysis. L6 vertebrae microstructures were evaluated by microcomputed tomography.ResultsThe fused segments showed clear evidence of fusion based on manual palpation and radiographs. The OVX+PLF+V group showed more severe degenerative alterations and higher histological scores in the disc than the Sham+V, OVX+V, and PLF+V groups (P < 0.05). Compared with the OVX+PLF+V group, the OVX+PLF+ALN group exhibited significantly improved bone mass and vertebrae microstructures (P < 0.05), an increased disc height, and a decreased endplate calcification area (P < 0.05). ALN also significantly decreased Col-I, MMP-13, and ADAMTS-4 expression and increased Col-II and Aggrecan expression in the disc matrix (P < 0.05).ConclusionALN effectively alleviated ASDD post-PLF in ovariectomized rats. These data indicate that ALN can be used as a potential therapeutic agent to attenuate ASDD progression in osteoporosis.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

Want more great medical articles?

Keep up to date with a free trial of metajournal, personalized for your practice.
1,694,794 articles already indexed!

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.