Objective To investigate the gene expression changes in normal and degeneration lumbar intervertebral disc in humans, providing information for clinical. Methods The PCR products of 4096 human genes were spotted onto a kind of chemical-material-coated-glass slides. The total RNAs were isolated from the tissues. Both the mRNAs from the degeneration and normal lumbar intervertebral disc in humans were reversely transcribed to the cDNAs, which used as the hybridization probes with the incorporations of fluorescent dUTP. The mixed probes were then hybridized to the cDNA microarray. After high-stringent washing, the cDNA microarray was scanned for the fluorescent signals and analyzed with computer image analysis. Results Among the 4096 targets,there were 706 genes whose expression levels differed between the degeneration and normal lumbar intervertebral disc in all cases,comprising 298 up-regulated and 358 down-regulated ones. Conclusion DNA microarray technology is an effective technique in screening for differently expressed genes between the degeneration and normal lumbar intervertebral disc. Cell apoptosis plays an important role in the process of lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration.

腰椎间盘营养扩散途径的DCE-MRI研究进展

椎间盘退变是颈、腰椎病发生发展的根本原因，不同程度的影响患者的生活质量[1]。流行病学研究表明营养供应减少、细胞凋亡失衡、基质酶活性改变、生物力学机制及自身免疫反应等均可能是导致椎间盘退变的重要因素[2]，营养物质缺乏被认为是诸多因素中导致椎间盘退变的首要影响因素并被体外研究所证实[3]。当某些病因引起营养椎体的血液供应减少时，影响了髓核营养的输送，终导致椎间盘退变的发生。既往检测扩散途径的方法较多，但主要集中在离体研究上[4]，如何无创检测活体对于早期预防和干预治疗具有重要意义。磁共振成像(magneticresonanceimaging，MRI)应用于医学领域已有20多年历史，动态增强磁共振扫描(dynamiccontrastenhanced-MRI，DCE-MRI)通过MRI对比剂进入椎间盘的快慢及多少反映椎间盘的营养扩散过程，具有可重复、无创的优点，是一种新的分析椎间盘营养机制的方法，现将其机制进行综述。

退行性脊柱侧凸的新研究进展

退行性脊柱侧凸(degenerativescoliosis)是一类成年人中出现的脊柱畸形，即在人体骨骼成熟以后，冠状面正直的脊柱出现侧方弯曲，Cobb’s角＞10°[1]，但不包括由脊柱器质性病变如外伤、肿瘤等导致的脊柱侧凸。病变脊柱以腰段为多见，少部分也可累及胸腰段，常伴随有腰椎前凸减少、椎体侧方滑移及椎管或神经根管狭窄等病变。与青年特发性脊柱侧凸不同，此病主要引起患者腰背部顽固性疼痛、跛行、神经根性症状等，严重影响患者的工作与生活。老年人为此病的高发人群，随着全球人口老龄化的进展，老年人群比例逐年升高，退行性脊柱侧凸的发病率也明显增加[2]。于是，对此类疾病的诊治手段及其疗效便成为临床医师与患者们共同关注的焦点。现就近年来对退行性脊柱侧凸相关的研究进行回顾、综述，以求能全面、详实地介绍此类疾患，探索更加科学、有效的治疗方法。

椎间盘退行性疾病生物治疗研究的进展

椎间盘退行性疾病( degenerative disc diseases，DDD )是一类常见的，可引起椎间盘突出、椎管狭窄、退变性滑脱以及退变性脊柱侧弯的疾病，通常伴随慢性下腰痛等症状，严重影响患者的日常工作及生活。目前，对 DDD 的治疗一般包括药物等保守治疗和手术治疗，目的在于缓解症状及提高患者生活质量，但是现有的治疗方案仅缓解了患者的症状，却难以恢复其椎间盘的结构和功能。现在，越来越多的医生认为通过对 DDD 患者进行生物治疗，不仅可以缓解症状，而且生物治疗可以早期阻止甚至逆转椎间盘退变并恢复其生物学功能，这使得生物治疗有望成为DDD 的主要治疗手段。现将近年来椎间盘退行性疾病的生物治疗研究成果综述如下。

Objective: To provide a highly efficient adenoviralvector Ad-CMV-hTGFβ1 for the study of gene therapy forreversion of the intervertebral disc degeneration.Methods: A newly developed recombinant adenoviralvector construction system was used in the study. ThecDNA of hTGFβ1 was first subcloned into a shuttle plasmidpShuttle-CMV. The resultant plasmid was linearized bydigesting with restriction endonuclease PmeI, andsubsequently transformed into E.coll. BJ5183 cells with anadenoviral backbone plasmid pAdEasy-1. Recombinantswere selected by kanamycin resistance and confirmed byrestriction endonuclease analysis. Finally, the recombinantplasmid linearized by PmeI was transfected into 293 cells.Recombinant adenoviruses were generated within 2 weeks.Results: The recombinant adenoviral plasmids werecut by BamHI and PacI respectively, and the diagnosticfragments appeared in 0.8% agarose electrophoresis. Theinfected 293 cells showed evident cytopathlc effect (CPE).The productions of PCR confirmed the presence ofrecombinant adenovirus. The expression of hTGFβ1 wasverified by immunohistochemical staining.Conclusions: The successful generation of theadenoviral vector Ad-CMV-hTGFβ1 and the confirmationof the interest gene expression make it possible for theexperimental study of the reversion of the intervertebraldisc degeneration by gene therapy.