Abstract
Purpose
Although psychological factors are assumed to be the primary cause of stress-related back pain, there have been no studies of the relationships between stress and low back pain in an animal model. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of specific alternation of rhythm in temperature (SART) stress on gait abnormality using the CatWalk method in a rat model of low back pain caused by lumbar facetectomy.
Methods
Sixty rats were divided into three groups: the control, sham and experimental groups. Each group was then divided into non-SART stress and SART stress subgroups. We evaluated the behavioral changes 7 weeks postoperatively using the von Frey test and the CatWalk method.
Results
Threshold values for the hind paw in the SART stress subgroups were significantly lower than those in the non-SART stress subgroups. In the experimental group, significant changes by CatWalk in step cycle, stand time and average speed were observed under non-SART stress conditions, but SART stress resulted in additional significant changes in not only these parameters, but in other parameters including the duty cycle and swing time, compared with those in the control and sham groups.
Conclusions
The demonstration by CatWalk analysis may indicate that SART stress enhanced gait disturbance. In this animal model, we demonstrated for the first time that stress may be a factor involved in worsening of low back pain.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Takahashi K, Aoki Y, Ohtori S (2008) Resolving discogenic pain. Eur Spine J 17:428–431. doi:10.1007/s00586-008-0752-4
Buckwalter JA (1995) Aging and degeneration of the human intervertebral disc. Spine 20:1307–1314
Lotz JC, Ulrich JA (2006) Innervation, inflammation, and hypermobility may characterize pathologic disc degeneration: review of animal model data. J Bone Jt Surg Am 88:76–82. doi:10.2106/jbjs.e.01448
Hasenbring M, Marienfeld G, Kuhlendahl D, Soyka D (1994) Risk factors of chronicity in lumbar disc patients. A prospective investigation of biologic, psychologic, and social predictors of therapy outcome. Spine 19:2759–2765
Alini M, Eisenstein SM, Ito K, Little C, Kettler AA, Masuda K, Melrose J, Ralphs J, Stokes I, Wilke HJ (2008) Are animal models useful for studying human disc disorders/degeneration? Eur Spine J 17:2–19. doi:10.1007/s00586-007-0414-y
Fukui D, Kawakami M, Yoshida M, Nakao S, Matsuoka T, Yamada H (2015) Gait abnormality due to spinal instability after lumbar facetectomy in the rat. Eur Spine J 24:2085–2094. doi:10.1007/s00586-014-3537-y
Hamers FP, Lankhorst AJ, van Laar TJ, Veldhuis WB, Gispen WH (2001) Automated quantitative gait analysis during overground locomotion in the rat: its application to spinal cord contusion and transection injuries. J Neurotrauma 18:187–201. doi:10.1089/08977150150502613
Jia H, Zhu S, Ma J, Wang J, Feng R, Xing D, Yang Y, Ma B, Chen Y, Yu J, Ma X (2013) A biomechanical study of the recovery in spinal stability of flexion/extension and torsion after the resection of different posterior lumbar structures in a sheep model. Proc Inst Mech Eng H 227(8):866–874. doi:10.1177/0954411913487842
Miyagi M, Ishikawa T, Kamoda H, Orita S, Kuniyoshi K, Ochiai N, Kishida S, Nakamura J, Eguchi Y, Arai G, Suzuki M, Aoki Y, Toyone T, Takahashi K, Inoue G, Ohtori S (2011) Assessment of gait in a rat model of myofascial inflammation using the CatWalk system. Spine 36:1760–1764. doi:10.1097/BRS.0b013e3182269732
Miyagi M, Ishikawa T, Kamoda H, Suzuki M, Sakuma Y, Orita S, Oikawa Y, Aoki Y, Toyone T, Takahashi K, Inoue G, Ohtori S (2013) Assessment of pain behavior in a rat model of intervertebral disc injury using the CatWalk gait analysis system. Spine 38:1459–1465. doi:10.1097/BRS.0b013e318299536a
Fukui D, Kawakami M, Cheng K, Murata K, Yamada K, Sato R, Yoshida M, Yamada H, Inoue N, Masuda K (2016) Three-dimensional micro-computed tomography analysis for spinal instability after lumbar facetectomy in the rat. Eur Spine J. doi:10.1007/s00586-016-4920-7
Chiba S, Numakawa T, Ninomiya M, Richards MC, Wakabayashi C, Kunugi H (2012) Chronic restraint stress causes anxiety- and depression-like behaviors, downregulates glucocorticoid receptor expression, and attenuates glutamate release induced by brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the prefrontal cortex. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 39:112–119. doi:10.1016/j.pnpbp.2012.05.018
Bonaz B, Tache Y (1994) Water-avoidance stress-induced c-fos expression in the rat brain and stimulation of fecal output: role of corticotropin-releasing factor. Brain Res 641:21–28
Hata T, Nishimura Y, Kita T, Kawabata A, Itoh E (1987) Electrocorticogram in rats loaded with SART stress (repeated cold stress). Jpn J Pharmacol 45:365–372
Stokes IA, Counts DF, Frymoyer JW (1989) Experimental instability in the rabbit lumbar spine. Spine 14:68–72
Dixon WJ (1980) Efficient analysis of experimental observations. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 20:441–462. doi:10.1146/annurev.pa.20.040180.002301
Vrinten DH, Hamers FFT (2003) ‘CatWalk’ automated quantitative gait analysis as a novel method to assess mechanical allodynia in the rat; a comparison with von Frey testing. Pain 102:203–209. doi:10.1016/s0304-3959(02)00382-2
Chen YJ, Cheng FC, Sheu ML, Su HL, Chen CJ, Sheehan J, Pan HC (2014) Detection of subtle neurological alterations by the Catwalk XT gait analysis system. J Neuroeng Rehabil 11:62. doi:10.1186/1743-0003-11-62
Faul F, Erdfelder E, Buchner A, Lang AG (2009) Statistical power analyses using G*Power 3.1: tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behav Res Methods 41:1149–1160. doi:10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149
Bozkurt A, Deumens R, Scheffel J, O’Dey DM, Weis J, Joosten EA, Fuhrmann T, Brook GA, Pallua N (2008) CatWalk gait analysis in assessment of functional recovery after sciatic nerve injury. J Neurosci Methods 173:91–98. doi:10.1016/j.jneumeth.2008.05.020
Takahashi N, Kikuchi S, Konnno S, Morita S, Suzukamo Y, Green J, Fukuhra S (2006) Discrepancy between disability and the severity of low back pain: demographic, psychologic, and employment-related factors. Spine 31:931–939. doi:10.1097/01.brs.0000209319.94256.89
Kita T, Hata T, Iida J, Yoneda R, Isida S (1979) Decrease in pain threshold in SART stressed mice. Jpn J Pharmacol 29:479–482
Ohara H, Kawamura M, Namimatsu A, Miura T, Yoneda R, Hata T (1991) Mechanism of hyperalgesia in SART stressed (repeated cold stress) mice: antinociceptive effect of neurotropin. Jpn J Pharmacol 57:243–250
Uesugi K, Sekiguchi M, Kikuchi S, Konno S (2011) The effect of repeated restraint stress in pain-related behavior induced by nucleus pulposus applied on the nerve root in rats. Eur Spine J 20:1885–1891. doi:10.1007/s00586-011-1877-4
Acknowledgements
This work was supported in part by JSPS KAKENHI, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research Numbers 25462306, 2013-2015, Tokyo, Japan.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
None.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fukui, D., Kawakami, M., Matsumoto, T. et al. Stress enhances gait disturbance induced by lumbar disc degeneration in rat. Eur Spine J 27, 205–213 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-017-5243-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-017-5243-z