Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

The biomechanical behavior of the intervertebral disk ultimately depends on the viability and activity of a small population of resident cells that make and maintain the disk's extracellular matrix. Nutrients that support these cells are supplied by the blood vessels at the disks' margins and diffuse through the matrix of the avascular disk to the cells. This article reviews pathways of nutrient supply to these cells; examines factors that may interrupt these pathways, and discusses consequences for disk cell survival, disk degeneration, and disk repair.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.ocl.2011.07.010

Type

Journal article

Journal

Orthop clin north am

Publication Date

10/2011

Volume

42

Pages

465 - vii

Keywords

Adult, Age Factors, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Animals, Cell Survival, Disease Models, Animal, Dogs, Extracellular Matrix, Food, Glucose, Homeostasis, Humans, Intervertebral Disc, Intervertebral Disc Degeneration, Middle Aged, Oxygen Consumption, Rabbits, Risk Factors, Sensitivity and Specificity