Current status and trends in quantitative MRI study of intervertebral disc degeneration: a bibliometric and clinical study analysis.

Background: Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has the function of noninvasive quantitative evaluation, providing unique advantages in intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) assessment. Although studies exploring the field for domestic and international scholars are increasingly being published, there is a lack of systematic scientific measurement and clinical analysis of the literature in this field. Methods: Articles published from the respective database establishment to September 30, 2022, were obtained from the Web of Science core collection (WOSCC), PubMed database, and ClinicalTrials.gov. The scientometric software (VOSviewer 1.6.18, CiteSpace 6.1.R3, Scimago Graphica, and R software) were used for bibliometric and knowledge graph visualization analysis. Results: We included 651 articles from the WOSCC database and 3 clinical studies from ClinicalTrials.gov for literature analysis. With the passage of time, the number of articles in this field gradually increased. The United States and China were the top 2 countries in terms of the number of publications and citations, and Chinese publications lacked international cooperation and exchange. The author with the most publications was Schleich C, while the author with the most citations was Borthakur A, who have both made important contributions to research in this field. The journal publishing the most relevant articles was Spine, and the journal with the most mean times cited per study was Radiology, both of which are the authoritative journals in this field. Keyword co-occurrence, clustering, timeline view, and emergent analysis revealed that recent studies in this field have focused on quantifying the biochemical components of the degenerated intervertebral disc (IVD). There were few available clinical studies. The more recent clinical studies mainly used molecular imaging technology to explore the relationship between different quantitative MRI sequence values and the IVD biomechanical environment and biochemical components content. Conclusions: The study provided a knowledge map of quantitative MRI for IDD research in terms of countries, authors, journals, cited literature, and keywords through bibliometric analysis, and systematically sorted the current status, hotspots, and clinical research features in the field to provide a reference for future research.

Nerve abnormalities in lumbar disc herniation: A systematic review and meta-analysis of diffusion tensor imaging.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the values of fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for diagnosing patients with nerve impairment due to lumbar disc herniation (LDH). METHODS: A literature search of databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library and Embase) was systematically performed to identify articles published before September 2021 that were relevant to this study. FA and ADC estimates of compressed nerve roots due to LDH and healthy controls in the same segment were compared, with either fixed or random effects models selected according to I2 heterogeneity. Additionally, subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, potential publication bias analysis and meta-regression analysis were also performed. RESULTS: A total of 369 patients with LDH from 11 publications were included in this meta-analysis. The results showed significantly lower FA values (Weighted Mean Difference (WMD): -0.08, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.09 to -0.07, P ≤ 0.001, I2 = 87.6%) and significantly higher ADC values (WMD: 0.25, 95% CI: 0.20 to 0.30, P ≤ 0.001, I2 = 71.4%) of the nerve on the compressed side due to LDH compared to the healthy side. Subgroup analysis indicated that different countries and magnetic field strengths may be associated with higher heterogeneity. Furthermore, meta-regression analysis further revealed that segment and field strength did not have a significant effect on the results, regardless of the FA or ADC values. Contrastingly, in FA, the year of publication, country, b value and directions showed an effect on the results. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis showed a significant decrease in FA and a significant increase in ADC in patients with nerve damage due to LDH. The results favourably support the presence of nerve impairment in patients with LDH.

Comprehensive analysis of potential ceRNA network and immune cell infiltration in intervertebral disc degeneration.

BACKGROUND: Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) has become a serious public health problem, the mechanism of which is complex and still unclear. We aimed to construct a ceRNA network related to IDD to explore its pathogenesis. METHODS: We downloaded the GSE67566, GSE63492, GSE116726 and GSE124272 datasets from GEO database, and obtained the differentially expressed RNAs. Then, we constructed a ceRNA network and the KEGG and GO enrichment analysis were performed. Finally, we performed immune cell infiltration analysis on the GSE124272 dataset and analysed the correlation between immune cell abundance and hub genes expression levels. RESULTS: The ceRNA network included three down-regulated circRNAs: hsa_circ_0074817, hsa_circ_0002702, hsa_circ_0003600, three up-regulated miRNAs: hsa-miR-4741, hsa-miR-3158-5p, hsa-miR-508-5p, and 57 down-regulated mRNAs, including six hub genes: IGF1, CHEK1, CCNB1, OIP5, BIRC5, AR. GO and KEGG analysis revealed that the network is involved in various biological functions. Immune infiltration analysis showed that IDD was closely related to immune cell infiltration, and hub genes could further affect the development of IDD by affecting immune cell infiltration. CONCLUSION: This study identified the hsa_circ_0074817-hsa-miR-508-5p-IGF1/CHEK1/CCNB1, the hsa_circ_0003600-hsa-miR-4741-BIRC5/OIP5/AR and the hsa_circ_0002702-hsa-miR-3158-5p-IGF1/AR as important regulatory axis of IDD, which will help us gain further insight into the pathogenesis of IDD and determine potential therapeutic targets.

[Research advances in prevention and treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration by targeting mitochondrial quality control].

Intervertebral disc degeneration(IDD) is a common clinical degenerative disease of the musculoskeletal system, which increases the risk of lower back pain, severely reduces patients' quality of life and work efficiency, and imposes a large economic burden on society. Mitochondria, as the "power stations" of eukaryotic cells, are involved in many key biological processes, and their abnormal function can induce cellular dysfunction and lead to the development of a series of degenerative diseases. Recent studies have revealed that mitochondrial quality control(MQC) imbalance, characterized by abnormalities in mitochondrial oxidative stress, kinetics, mitophagy and biogenesis, plays an important role in IDD. The research reviewed the progress of the role of MQC in IDD and summarized traditional Chinese medicine monomers and small molecule compounds targeting MQC for the treatment of IDD, with the aim of providing reference and new ideas for studying novel therapeutic strategies for IDD.

Gentiopicroside inhibits RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis by regulating NF-κB and JNK signaling pathways.

Gentiopicroside, a main active component from the traditional Chinese herb medicine Gentiana manshurica Kitag, has been shown to possess anti-arthritis effect. However, the molecular mechanism of gentiopicroside on the osteoclast formation remains unclear. The present study was designed to investigate the effects and mechanisms of gentiopicroside on receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclastogenesis. The results showed that pre-treatment with gentiopicroside significantly inhibited RANKL-induced osteoclast formation from mouse bone marrow macrophages (BMMs). In addition, we observed that gentiopicroside efficiently suppressed osteoclastogenesis-related marker genes expression in RANKL-stimulated BMMs. Mechanistically, gentiopicroside suppressed RANKL-induced the activation of JNK and NF-κB signaling pathways in BMMs. Taken together, the present study demonstrated that gentiopicroside inhibits RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis through the inactivation of JNK and NF-κB signaling pathways. Thus, gentiopicroside may be a promising agent for the treatment of osteoporosis.