Swelling pressure of the lumbar intervertebral discs: influence of age, spinal level, composition, and degeneration.

Journal article

The fluid content of the intervertebral disc is important in determining its mechanical response and also its transport and biologic properties. Fluid content depends on the proteoglycan content of the tissue and on the relationship of the external load to the disc's swelling pressure. The influence of proteoglycan content and external load on the hydration of nuclei from 32 human lumbar discs was measured. Swelling pressure of the same specimens was measured by equilibrium dialysis. The infl...

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Authors: Urban, J; McMullin, J

• Journal: Spine
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 179-187
• Publication date: 1988-02-01
• EISSN: 1528-1159
• ISSN: 0362-2436
• Language: English
• Keywords: Spinal Diseases; Intervertebral Disk; Aging; Edema; Pressure; Adult; Middle Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Lumbar Vertebrae; Postmortem Changes; Aged; Humans; Adolescent; Stress, Mechanical; Body Water