The effects of short-term load duration on anabolic and catabolic gene expression in the rat tail intervertebral disc

Abstract: The goal of this study was to determine the time-dependent response of the intervertebral disc cells to in vivo dynamic compression. Forty-seven skeletally mature Wistar rats (>12 months old) were instrumented with an Ilizarov-type device spanning caudal disc 8–9. Using a load magnitude (1MPa) and frequency (1.0Hz) that were previously shown to significantly alter mRNA levels in the disc, the effects of 0.5 and 4h of loading were investigated and compared to a sham group and our previous 2h results. Annulus and nucleus tissue of loaded (c8–9) and internal control discs (c6–7 and c10–11) were separately analyzed by real-time RT-PCR for levels of mRNA coding for various anabolic (collagen-1A1, collagen-2A1, aggrecan) and catabolic (MMP-3, MMP-13, ADAMTs-4) proteins. In the annulus, mRNA levels increased for Collagen types I & II, and MMP 3 & 13 with increasing load duration. In contrast, the nucleus had the largest increases in aggrecan, ADAMTs-4, MMP-3 and MMP-13 after 2h of loading, with aggrecan and MMP-13 mRNA levels returning to control values after 4h of loading. Taken in context with our previous studies, we conclude that intervertebral disc cells from the nucleus and annulus have distinct responses to dynamic mechanical compression in vivo with sensitivity to compression magnitude, frequency and duration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]