The degenerative spine disorders (DSD) includes disorders of intervertebral discs (IVDs) and degenerative spondylolisthesis. DSD represents the most frequent reason of morbidity in adults and its incidence rises with age. The common clinical signs of DSD are pain and mobility impairment, as the consequence of spinal roots and spinal cord compression by herniated IVDs, spinal canal stenosis, osteoarthrosis and damage of facet joints (FJs) cartilage. The pain can appear without evident neuronal compression due to the local release of cytokines and chemokines. It has been recently appointed a significant role of cytokines, not only in pain mediation, but also in DSD progression (Wuertz and Haglund, 2013). IVDs consist of annulus fibrosus (AF) and nucleus pulposus (NP). While collagen represents the main compound of AF, NP comprises proteoglycans and water. One of the early symptoms of IVD degeneration is reduced hydration of NP, followed by subsequent biochemical and structural changes that change the mechanic loading of spine (Risbud and Shapiro, 2014).
The role of cytokines in degenerative spine disordersSutovsky J., 1 Kocmalova M., 2,3 Benco M., 1 Kazimierova I., Pappova L., 2,3 Frano A., 4 Sutovska M., 2,3 Background: Degenerative spine disorders (DSD) are the most frequent reason of morbidity in adults. Commonly DSD includes degenerative disorders of intervertebral discs (IVDs), spinal stenosis and degenerative spondylolisthesis (SL). There is increasing evidence about significant role of cytokines in DSD pathogenesis, symptomathology and progression, but their protective levels remain still unknown. Material and Methods: The aim of presented study was to provide quantitative and qualitative analysis of cytokine, chemokine and growth factors levels in individual parts of IVDs -annulus fibrosus (AF) and nucleus pulposus (NP) -separately and in facet joints (FJ) subchondral bone of patients with DSD and in controls -healthy subjects during a multiorgan procurement procedure. Bio-Plex® assay was used to measure concentrations of 27 different cytokines in tissue of patients with DSD. Their concentrations in tissues of healthy subjects during a multiorgan procurement procedure represented protective levels. Results: The Bio-Plex® assay revealed significant differences between the patients suffered from degenerated and herniated IVDs and from lumbar SL and controls in cytokines, chemokines and growth factor profiles suggested that pro-inflammatory changes of both NP and AF were dominated in herniated IVDs, whereas the same tissue of lumbar SL patients exhibited much more complex changes in cytokine levels suggested o only ongoing inflammation (IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1, TNF-α), abut also antiinflammatory processes (IL-ra, IL-10) or connective tissue remodeling (PDGF-bb, IL-17, VEGF). The different mediators were found elevated in lumbar SL samples of subchondral FJ bone. These also confirmed ongoing inflammation, accelerated bone resorption and formation and increased fibroblasts activity in FJ bone. Conclusion: The study s...