Home > Browse Issues > Vol.38 No.11
Progress in Association between Autophagy and Intervertebral Disc Degeneration
Ao Peng1, Yin Changchang2, Wu Tianlong1, Huang Wenzhou1, Cheng Xigao1,2*
1Department of Orthopedics, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, China;
2Basic Medical College, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang 332000, China
2Basic Medical College, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang 332000, China
Abstract: Autophagy is a life-sustaining process used by the cell to deliver cytoplasmic components to the lysosome for degradation and recycle. In recent years， It is reported that there exists autophagy in degenerative disease， including osteoarthritis and intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). As a main contributing factor to low back pain， IDD is the pathological basis for various debilitating spinal diseases. Either higher or lower levels of autophagy are observed in degenerative intervertebral disc (IVD) cells. Although the precise role of autophagy in disc degeneration is still controversial， but we believed that understanding the autophagy response of nucleus pulposus (NP) cells and its role in cell survival had important clinical significance in the prevention and treatment of degenerative discogenic diseases. In this review， we briefly summarize recent progress in understanding the function and process of autophagy. In particular， we focus on studies that reveal the relationship between autophagy and IVD degeneration.
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