Pathomechanism of ligament flavum hypertrophy in patients with the lumbar spinal canal stenosis

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25462310
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Orthopaedic surgery
• Research Institution: The University of Tokushima
• Principal Investigator: SAIRYO Koichi 徳島大学, 大学院医歯薬学研究部, 教授 (10304528)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): OGAWA Rei 日本医科大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (70398866) ; SAKAI Toshinori 徳島大学, 大学院医歯薬学研究部, 特任准教授 (80403731)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 黄色靭帯 / 肥厚 / 腰椎 / 脊柱管狭窄症 / 線維化 / マイクロアレイ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We reported that elasticity of the ligamentum flavum (LF) decreases with aging, which may be the reason of LF to be likely to get injured during the motion. We focus on ER (endoplasmic reticulum) stress for the basic pathology of the LF in the aged. We used microarray for global assessment of gene expression in the LF between young and aged population. In results, we found that PERK, IRE1, ATF6, and GRP78 were over-expressed in the aged, indicating that ER stress would be existed in the aged LF. We also analyzed the fibrotic condition in hypertrophic LF. Along the dorsal aspect of LF, thick fibrotic tissue was revealed by Trichrone staining. Near the fibrotic site, Type I, III, XII and XIV were confirmed by immunohistological chemistry. Alpha-SMA was also confirmed. We concluded that hypertrophy of LF would be the fibro-proliferative disorders and ER stress would be the basic condition causing this pathology.

Free Research Field

整形外科学