TY - JOUR
T1 - Postnatal development of the murine notochord remnants quantified by high-resolution contrast-enhanced MicroCT
AU - Bhalla, Sameer
AU - Lin, Kevin H.
AU - Tang, Simon Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful towards Dan Leib for technical assistance on the microCT analyses, as well as Justin Lipner and Matthew Joens for technical assistance with the Transmission Electron Microscopy. The authors acknowledge the support from the Washington University Center for Cellular Imaging, the Washington University Musculoskeletal Research Center (P30AR057235), and the National Institutes of Health (S10OD021694, K01AR069116, and R21AR069804).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - The notochord gives rise to spinal segments during development, and it becomes embedded within the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc (IVD) during maturation. The disruption of the notochord band has been observed with IVD degeneration. Since the mechanical competence of the IVD relies on its structural constituents, defining the structure of the notochord during aging is critical for investigations relating to IVD function and homeostasis. The assessment and imaging of the notochord has classically relied on histological techniques, which introduces sectioning artifacts during preparation and spatial biases. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) does not offer sufficient resolution to discriminate the notochord from the surrounding the nucleus pulposus, especially in murine models. Current X-ray based computed tomography systems provide imaging resolutions down to the single- and sub- micron scales, and when coupled with contrast-enhancing agents, enable the high-resolution three-dimensional imaging of relatively small features. Utilizing phosphomolybdic acid to preferentially bind to collagen cationic domains, we describe the structure of the notochord remnants with aging in the lumbar IVDs of BALB/c mice. These results provide a highly quantitative and sensitive approach to monitoring the IVD during postnatal development.
AB - The notochord gives rise to spinal segments during development, and it becomes embedded within the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc (IVD) during maturation. The disruption of the notochord band has been observed with IVD degeneration. Since the mechanical competence of the IVD relies on its structural constituents, defining the structure of the notochord during aging is critical for investigations relating to IVD function and homeostasis. The assessment and imaging of the notochord has classically relied on histological techniques, which introduces sectioning artifacts during preparation and spatial biases. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) does not offer sufficient resolution to discriminate the notochord from the surrounding the nucleus pulposus, especially in murine models. Current X-ray based computed tomography systems provide imaging resolutions down to the single- and sub- micron scales, and when coupled with contrast-enhancing agents, enable the high-resolution three-dimensional imaging of relatively small features. Utilizing phosphomolybdic acid to preferentially bind to collagen cationic domains, we describe the structure of the notochord remnants with aging in the lumbar IVDs of BALB/c mice. These results provide a highly quantitative and sensitive approach to monitoring the IVD during postnatal development.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85031811641&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-017-13446-5
DO - 10.1038/s41598-017-13446-5
M3 - Article
C2 - 29042621
AN - SCOPUS:85031811641
VL - 7
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
SN - 2045-2322
IS - 1
M1 - 13361
ER -