“…AF, annulus fibrous; EP, endplate; H&E, hematoxylin-eosin; IAF, inner annulus fibrous; IVD, intervertebral disc; NP, nucleus pulposus; OAF, outer annulus fibrous; WT, wild-type; black arrows, chondrocyte-like cells; white arrows, ectopic ossifications; white dotted line, OAF-IAF boundary. Scale bar: 200 μm (Cornejo, Cho, Giannarelli, Iatridis, & Purmessur, 2015;Freemont et al, 1997;Kwon, Moon, Kwon, Park, & Kim, 2017;Risbud & Shapiro, 2014). In the present study, we demonstrate the important role of Tnmd in prevention of IVD degeneration by maintaining the avascular nature of the IVD (Figure 6j).…”