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Autophagy in an extruded disc compared to the remaining disc after lumbar disc herniation in the same patient

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate autophagy in an extruded disc and to compare this activity with the activity in the remaining disc after lumbar disc herniation in the same patient.

Methods

In total, 12 patients (females 4, males 8) with the extruded type of lumbar disc herniation (LDH) were surgically treated. Their mean age was 54.3 ± 15.8 years (range: 29 ~ 78 years). The mean interval from the occurrence of symptoms to the operation was 9.8 ± 9.4 weeks (range: 2 ~ 24 weeks). The extruded discs were excised, and the remaining disc material removed, to prevent recurrence of herniation. Immediately after specimen collection, all tissues were stored at −70 °C prior to analysis. Autophagy was assessed immunohistochemically and via Western blotting for Atg5, Atg7, Atg12, Atg12L1, and Beclin-1. And the relationship between autophagy and apoptosis was investigated by correlation analysis of caspase-3 with autophagy proteins.

Results

The expression levels of autophagic markers were significantly increased in the extruded discs compared to the remaining discs within the same patients. The mean expression levels of Atg5, Atg7, Atg12, and Beclin-1 in extruded discs were statistically significantly higher than those in the remaining discs (P < 0.01, P < 0.001, P < 0.01, and P < 0.001 respectively).

Conclusions

The autophagic pathway was more active in extruded disc material than in remaining disc material within the same patient. This may explain spontaneous resorption of the extruded disc after LDH.

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Acknowledgements

None.

Funding

This work was supported by a research grant from Jeju National University Hospital in 2016.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Jeju National University Hospital, Jeju National University, Jeju, Republic of Korea

    Jun-Yeong Seo, Kyu Bum Seo, Hyunseong Kang & Sungwook Choi

  2. Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Jeju National University, Jeju, Republic of Korea

    Jinu Kim

  3. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Daejeon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Daejeon, Republic of Korea

    Young-Yul Kim & Md Abdul Khaleque

  4. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Kee-Yong Ha

  5. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, 222 Banpodae-ro, Seocho-Gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Young-Hoon Kim, Sang-Il Kim & Jae-Hak Lim

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  1. Jun-Yeong Seo
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Correspondence to Sang-Il Kim.

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Seo, JY., Kim, J., Kim, YY. et al. Autophagy in an extruded disc compared to the remaining disc after lumbar disc herniation in the same patient. Eur Spine J 33, 61–67 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-023-07731-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00586-023-07731-3

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