Document Detail


Aging and degeneration of the human intervertebral disc.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  7660243     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
Human intervertebral discs undergo age-related degenerative changes that contribute to some of the most common causes of impairment and disability for middle aged and older persons: spine stiffness, neck pain, and back pain. Potential causes of the age-related degeneration of intervertebral discs include declining nutrition, loss of viable cells, cell senescence, post-translational modification of matrix proteins, accumulation of degraded matrix molecules, and fatigue failure of the matrix. The most important of these mechanisms appears to be decreasing nutrition of the central disc that allows accumulation of cell waste products and degraded matrix molecules, impairs cell nutrition, and causes a fall in pH levels that further compromises cell function and may cause cell death. Although aging changes of the disc appear to be inevitable, identification of activities and agents that accelerate these changes may help decrease the rate and severity of disc degeneration; and recent work suggests that methods can be developed that will regenerate disc tissue.
Authors:
J A Buckwalter
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Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article; Review    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Spine     Volume:  20     ISSN:  0362-2436     ISO Abbreviation:  Spine     Publication Date:  1995 Jun 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  1995-10-05     Completed Date:  1995-10-05     Revised Date:  2009-07-09    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  7610646     Medline TA:  Spine (Phila Pa 1976)     Country:  UNITED STATES    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  1307-14     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Department of Orthopaedics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.
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MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Aging / physiology*
Humans
Intervertebral Disk / anatomy & histology,  metabolism,  physiopathology*

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