1. Effect of a hypercholesterolemia as a starting factor on spinal degeneration in rabbits and role of Vitamin E (α-tocopherol)
- Author
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Nurgul Aytan, Ali Fahir Ozer, Nesrin Kartal Ozer, Özlem Yapıcıer, Tunc Oktenoglu, Ahmet Levent Aydin, Mehdi Sasani, Sasani, Mehdi, Özer, Ali Fahir (ORCID 0000-0001-7285-381X & YÖK ID 1022), Aydın A. L., Aytan, N., Yapıcıer, O., Öktenoğlu T. ,Özer, N. K., School of Medicine, and Department of Neurosurgery
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Degeneration (medical) ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,medicine.artery ,Internal medicine ,Medicine ,Vitamin E ,Tocopherol ,Vascular tissue ,rabbit spine ,Foam cell ,Hypercholesteremia ,Backache ,Physiological effects of cholesterol ,Lipid analysis ,Case studies ,Atherosclerosis ,Disc degeneration ,Hypercholesterolemia ,Rabbit spine ,Spine degenerative disease ,hypercholesterolemia ,Neurosurgery ,business.industry ,Cholesterol ,Abdominal aorta ,Surgery ,Vertebra ,Endocrinology ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,chemistry ,disc degeneration ,lipids (amino acids, peptides, and proteins) ,Original Article ,Neurology (clinical) ,business ,spine degenerative disease - Abstract
Background: To identify the role of the hypercholesterolemia as a starting factor in discovertebral degeneration that ultimately causes lower back pain, and investigate the role of Vitamin E in this process. Methods: The rabbits (n = 32) were divided into two broad experimental groups: A control group, and a hypercholesterolemia group, namely cholesterol, and cholesterol plus Vitamin E groups and they were fed sequentially for 4 or 8 weeks. Serum cholesterol and Vitamin E (a-tocopherol) levels were determined; vascular tissue was prepared for histopathological analyses and vertebra was decalcifed for the study. Results: Cholesterol diet group resulted approximately 44-fold of increase plasma cholesterol levels over the 4-week control values. Additional supplementation with Vitamin E group induced a plasma cholesterol level increase of only 37-fold as compared to the control group. In the cholesterol groups, light microscope examination revealed atherosclerotic plaque in major arteries. However, in the cholesterol plus Vitamin E treatment groups, no lipid accumulation or foam cell formation was visible in the abdominal aorta and vertebral segmental artery. In histopathological examination, we found degenerative changes in the discovertebral unit in cholesterol treated groups. Conclusion: Hypercholesterolemia causes fat accumulation in the disc endplate and vertebral body that causes blood supply disturbances which might be a starting factor of discovertebral degeneration. This event was not reversed by the elimination of cholesterol from the diet. Vitamin E supplementation was not effective in reducing fat accumulation in vertebral bone marrow. As a result, we conclude that degeneration of the discovertebral unit is not related to atherosclerotic changes in the major blood vessels. © 2016 Surgical Neurology International | Published by Wolters Kluwer-Medknow., NA
- Published
- 2015