Buckwalter J A
Department of Orthopaedics, University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA.
Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1995 Jun 1;20(11):1307-14. doi: 10.1097/00007632-199506000-00022.
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.
人类椎间盘会经历与年龄相关的退行性变化，这些变化是导致中老年人一些最常见损伤和残疾的原因：脊柱僵硬、颈部疼痛和背部疼痛。椎间盘与年龄相关的退变的潜在原因包括营养下降、活细胞丧失、细胞衰老、基质蛋白的翻译后修饰、降解基质分子的积累以及基质的疲劳失效。这些机制中最重要的似乎是椎间盘中央营养的减少，这会导致细胞废物和降解基质分子的积累，损害细胞营养，并导致pH值下降，进而进一步损害细胞功能并可能导致细胞死亡。尽管椎间盘的老化变化似乎不可避免，但识别加速这些变化的活动和因素可能有助于降低椎间盘退变的速度和严重程度；最近的研究表明，可以开发出能够使椎间盘组织再生的方法。
