Histological Evaluation of the Sheep’s Cervical Spine Segment 3/4 – A Histomorphological and Histomorphometrical Study

Abstract

The 2-year-old sheep is a frequently used model in spinal orthopaedic research; however, so far no investigations have been performed on physiological tissue of untreated animals. In this study, the cervical spine segment 3/4 of eight 2-year-old female Merino sheep was evaluated histologically and histomorphometrically. Specimens were stained with Masson-Goldner-Trichrome, Safranin-Orange/Lightgreen, Safranin-Orange/von Kossa and Astrablue. Analysis of bone mass, mass of cartilage and mineralized cartilage in a defined region of interest was performed. A new finding of the study was that--although 2-year-old sheep is regarded as adult--tissue of the growth plate was still detected. Moreover, this study revealed that in the nucleus pulposus of the 2-year-old sheep notochordal cells are still existent, suggesting a complex remodelling of the nucleus pulposus in sheep.

Unique glycosignature for intervertebral disc and articular cartilage cells and tissues in immaturity and maturity

“…However, it is the first time that clear on/off markers were identified that allows to distinguish the three different cell types of the IVD tissue. Bovine and ovine IVDs resemble human IVDs by the occurrence of notochordal cells with a few cells at birth which decrease rapidly with maturity 32 38 39 . Here, notochordal cells seemed to be absent or at a low number for both age-groups as no cells with notochordal cell morphology were observed in NP tissues ( Fig.…”