Degeneration mechanism of human cervical disc

Objective To study the degeneration mechanism of human degenerative cervical spondylosis. Methods The genes associated with degenerative spondylosis were found by whole genome sequencing, and annotated in GenBank. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect mRNA expression of the related genes. The cervical degenerative disease associated cytokine levels were detected by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results According to the genome sequencing results, major genes of degenerative cervical disc with differentiated expression including apoptosis related genes, collagen genes, cytokines and osteogenesis-related genes were obtained. The mRNA levels of degeneration related genes [B cell lymphoma / leukemia-2 (bcl-2), FAS, type I collagen alpha 2 chain (COL1A1), Type X collagen 1 chain (COL10A1) and matrix metalloprotenise (MMP)-3] in degeneration group were three times higher than the control group (2.249 vs. 0.650, 2.386 vs. 0.582, 2.339 vs. 0.731, 2.433 vs. 0.695, and 2.348 vs. 0.616, t=23.410, P=0.002; t=30.208, P=0.001; t=6.172, P=0.025; t=5.476, P=0.032; t=5.509; P=0.031, respectively). As compared with the traumatic patients, the degeneration related cytokines levels such as interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, IL-8, transforming growth factor (TGF)-α had significant difference (802.35 vs. 500.87, 158.26 vs. 53.91, 1 183.56 vs. 124.25, 238.64 vs. 78.16, t=56.282, P=0.000; t=48.383, P=0.000; t=16.223, P=0.004; t=24.564, P=0.002, respectively). Conclusion The disease process of degenerative spondylosis included the nucleus apoptosis, decrease in collagen, decreased bone production, increased inflammatory cytokines and other processes. Key words: Cervical spondylosis; Disc; Apoptosis; Collagen; Inflammatory cytokines