New In Vivo Animal Model to Create Intervertebral Disc Degeneration and to Investigate the Effects of Therapeutic Strategies to Stimulate Disc Regeneration

Abstract

The results of this study suggest that disc degeneration can be induced by axial dynamic loading in the rabbit intervertebral disc. The compressed rabbit intervertebral discs were large enough for the application of local transmitters through a percutaneous approach. We anticipate that this animal model could be used as a basic model to study intervertebral disc degeneration and to investigate new local therapeutic strategies for maintaining disc health or initiating tissue repair.