Assessment of Lactate Production and Proteoglycans Synthesis by the Intact and Degenerated Intervertebral Disc Cells under the Influence of Activated Macrophages: an In Vitro Study.

The effects of proinflammatory cytokines on the secretion of glycosaminoglycans and lactate production by normal and degenerated intervertebral disk cells were studied on the model of their co-culturing with activated macrophage-like cells. It was found that proinflammatory cytokines produced a direct effect on intervertebral disk cells in a 3D culture reducing the rate of glycolysis and synthetic activity of both normal and degenerated cells of annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus, which is an important factor in progression of intervertebral disk degeneration.