Abstract:
While several mechanical disruption studies of lumbar intervertebral discs have previously been carried out in vitro, none have sought to examine the microstructure
of the resulting tissue failures. Consequently, how various spinal postures during
loading and various loading rates for a given posture affect the disc's internal failure
mechanics has yet to be documented.
In the studies contained herein, ovine lumbar intervertebral discs have been mechanically disrupted by injecting radio-opaque gel into their nucleus via an injection
screw inserted longitudinally through their inferior vertebra. The resulting disruption
caused to each disc was subsequently examined using microcomputed tomography
and microscopy in tandem.
