Preliminary study on the relationship between aquaporin-1 and apoptosis of endplate chondrocytes in the intervertebral disc

Abstract

Objective To investigate the relationship between aquaporin-1 and apoptosis of enplate chondrocytes in the intervertebral disc.Methods 23 naturally constrained intervertebral disc/endplate units were divided into 4 groups randomly.Group A(n=5)were used as the control.group B、C、D(n=6,6,6)were cultured in muhi-well plate 2 weeks.Group B were not treated by IL-1β,and group C、D were treated by IL-1β 10μg/L and 30μg/L separately.The expression of aquaporin-1 and Caspase-3 were examined by immunohistochemical staining.Results The immunohistochemical staining showed that the rate of AQP-1 and Caspase-3 positive-staining cells in group A were(88.4±1.1)% and(5.5±0.8)%.The rate of AQP-1 and Caspase-3 positive-straining cells in group B were(86.7±1.4)% and(6.3±1.6)%.The rate of AQP-1 and Caspase-3 positive-staining cells in group C and group D were (42.8±2.2)%,(62.0±1.7)% and(30.5±2.0)%,(71.8±1.23)%.As the concentrations of IL-1β increased,the expression of AQP-1 was significantly decreased and the expression of Caspase-3 was significantly increased.The expression AQP-1 and Caspase-3 was a negative correlation.Conclusion The decreased expression of AQP-1 may lead to apoptosis of enplate chondrocytes in the intervertebral disc,and it may be as a target to prevent apoptosis of enplate ehondrocytes,and then treat or delay the intervertebral disc degeneration. Key words: Interverteral disc; Endplate ehondrocytes; AQP-1; Apoptosis