Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The . gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in . gov or VSports app下载. mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site. .

Https

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely. V体育官网.

Review
. 2018 Oct 19;1(4):e1033.
doi: 10.1002/jsp2.1033. eCollection 2018 Dec.

Osteoarthritis and intervertebral disc degeneration: Quite different, quite similar

Affiliations
Review

Osteoarthritis and intervertebral disc degeneration: Quite different, quite similar

Christine M E Rustenburg et al. JOR Spine. .

Abstract

Intervertebral disc degeneration describes the vicious cycle of the deterioration of intervertebral discs and can eventually result in degenerative disc disease (DDD), which is accompanied by low-back pain, the musculoskeletal disorder with the largest socioeconomic impact world-wide. In more severe stages, intervertebral disc degeneration is accompanied by loss of joint space, subchondral sclerosis, and osteophytes, similar to osteoarthritis (OA) in the articular joint VSports手机版. Inspired by this resemblance, we investigated the analogy between human intervertebral discs and articular joints. Although embryonic origin and anatomy suggest substantial differences between the two types of joint, some features of cell physiology and extracellular matrix in the nucleus pulposus and articular cartilage share numerous parallels. Moreover, there are great similarities in the response to mechanical loading and the matrix-degrading factors involved in the cascade of degeneration in both tissues. This suggests that the local environment of the cell is more important to its behavior than embryonic origin. Nevertheless, OA is widely regarded as a true disease, while intervertebral disc degeneration is often regarded as a radiological finding and DDD is undervalued as a cause of chronic low-back pain by clinicians, patients and society. Emphasizing the similarities rather than the differences between the two diseases may create more awareness in the clinic, improve diagnostics in DDD, and provide cross-fertilization of clinicians and scientists involved in both intervertebral disc degeneration and OA. .

Keywords: articular joint; degeneration; inflammation; intervertebral disc; mechanical loading; osteoarthritis. V体育安卓版.

PubMed Disclaimer

V体育2025版 - Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report. Author contributionsAll authors have contributed to the manuscript and approved the final version V体育ios版.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
A and B, Anatomy of the human intervertebral disc and articular joint.29, 30 A, The intervertebral disc consists of a nucleus pulposus (light gray), surrounded by an annulus fibrosus (black), and is between two cartilaginous endplates (dark gray) that adhere to the adjacent vertebrae (beige). B, An image of a sagittal section of an intervertebral disc. NP: nucleus pulposus; AF: annulus fibrosus; CP: cartilaginous endplates; V: vertebrae. C, The articular joint consists of articular cartilage (light gray), that lies over the subchondral bone (dark gray) of the adjacent joints, and is divided by synovial fluid (light blue). The capsule (black) surrounds the articular joint. D, An image of a sagittal section of an articular joint. AC: articular cartilage; C: capsule; SB: subchondral bone; SF: synovial fluid
Figure 2
Figure 2
A and B, Embryonic development of the human intervertebral disc and articular joint. A, Starting in week 5, the intervertebral discs are formed by the notochord and sclerotome. The sclerotome (on the outside) forms the outer annulus and surrounds the notochord (inside), which will eventually partition into the nuclei pulposi. A transition zone between notochord and sclerotome characterizes the inner annulus fibrosus. B, In week 6, the limb bud is formed by mesoderm covered by ectoderm and starts to grow outwards in order to form arms and legs. The formation of articular joints occurs later in embryonic development (ie, in week 8), and is characterized by the interzone (light blue), which is a group of mesenchymal cells that form an interspace
Figure 3
Figure 3
A and B, Radiological examples in the degenerated articular joint and intervertebral disc. Both OA (A) and DD (B) are radiologically characterized by loss of joint space, the formation of osteophytes and subchondral sclerosis

References

    1. Hoy D, Bain C, Williams G, et al. A systematic review of the global prevalence of low Back pain. Arthritis Rheum. 2012;64(6):2028‐2037. - PubMed
    1. Buchbinder R, van Tulder M, Öberg B, et al. Low back pain: a call for action. Lancet. 2018;391(10137):2384‐2388. - VSports在线直播 - PubMed
    1. Vos T, Abajobir AA, Abbafati C, et al. Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 328 diseases and injuries for 195 countries, 1990‐2016: a systematic analysis for the global burden of disease study 2016. Lancet. 2017;390(10100):1211‐1259. - PMC - PubMed
    1. de Schepper EI, Damen J, van Meurs JB, et al. The association between lumbar disc degeneration and low back pain: the influence of age, gender, and individual radiographic features. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2010;35(5):531‐536. - PubMed
    1. Pye SR, Reid DM, Smith R, et al. Radiographic features of lumbar disc degeneration and self‐reported back pain. J Rheumatol. 2004;31(4):753‐758. - VSports - PubMed

"V体育平台登录" LinkOut - more resources