<h3>BACKGROUND CONTEXT</h3> The accumulating evidence associating subclinical infection with degenerative disc disease (DDD) and the controversy of contamination vs infection mandates further understanding of the microbial activity in the disc and host-microbiome interaction. <h3>PURPOSE</h3> To utilize a novel approach of metabolomics to probe the presence of bacterial metabolites involved in colonization, survival and replication in human lumbar intervertebral discs (LIVD). <h3>STUDY DESIGN/SETTING</h3> An observational case-control study. <h3>PATIENT SAMPLE</h3> Nucleus pulposus from the LIVD of three brain-dead voluntary organ donors (MRI normal and classified as controls) and of three patients undergoing surgery for degenerative disc disease (DDD) (cases) were utilized. <h3>OUTCOME MEASURES</h3> To prove presence of live and metabolically active bacteria in intervertebral disc. <h3>METHODS</h3> Untargeted metabolite profiling was carried out in six discs (3 controls and 3 cases) after extraction using methanol: acetonitrile: water (2 2:1) solvent system and acquired through HPLC-MS/MS platform using C18 reversed-phase column. From the total IVD metabolome, microbial metabolites were filtered by mapping against HMDB, ChEBI, SigMol, Siderophore database, ecdmb database, and PaMet databases. Biological functions of the metabolites were then studied by MSEA pipeline from Metaboanalyst, and the enrichment ratio, p-value, and Variably Importance Projection scores (VIPS) of the metabolites calculated. Degeneration responsive changes in the abundance of the microbial metabolites were calculated based on the peak intensities between the control and cases. <h3>RESULTS</h3> Mass spectrometry identified a total of 17601 and 15003 metabolites, respectively, in the control and diseased discs. Preliminary mapping of the above metabolites against HMDB indicated the multiple sources and of these, 64 metabolites were of microbial origin, accounting for 1.6% of the total IVD metabolome. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) and Orthogonal Partial Least Square-Discriminant Analysis (OPLSD-DA) showed distinct clustered patterns between control and disease, indicating a strong variation in concentration, peak and spectral values of the 64 metabolites between controls and cases. After exclusion of metabolites that were also associated with humans, drugs and food, 39 metabolites specific to bacteria were isolated. Nine were primary related to bacterial growth and survival, and the remaining 30 were secondary related to different environmental stress response activities. The three significant pathways (p 1.0) was found for nine metabolites which included (S)-14-methyilhexadecanoic acid related to P.acnes, 9-OxoODE, and 13-OxoODE related to gut flora, vibriobactin - a siderophore, tuberculosinol and iso-tuberculosinol, virulence factors of M.tuberculosis. There was also upregulation of autoinducer- 2, an important "Quorum sensing molecule" involved in bacterial cross-talk. <h3>CONCLUSIONS</h3> We identified several bacterial-specific metabolites participating in pathways involved in bacterial growth, survival and cross-talk. These were found in both groups but upregulated in diseased discs. Presence of quorum sensing molecules and cell-cell interactions provides firm proof of colonization and growth. These findings indicate that bacterial presence is not mere contamination but a colonization with possible role in infection-mediated inflammaging in DDD. <h3>FDA DEVICE/DRUG STATUS</h3> This abstract does not discuss or include any applicable devices or drugs.