Significant pathways response to osmotic stimuli in the intervertebral disc.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The intervertebral disc (IVD) is a special tissue localized in the middle of vertebrae and it often experiences osmotic environment to accommodate applied mechanical forces. AIM: Here we aim to confirm significant pathways associated with IVD osmotic regulation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two different pathway analyses which are named component-based approach and protein-protein interaction (PPI)-based approach are used to identify the significant pathways from the related databases. RESULTS: The results showed that neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathway was specifically identified based on traditional significant pathway analysis. New significant pathway analysis indicated that ErbB signaling pathway, nucleotide excision repair, progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation pathway, and alpha-Linolenic acid metabolism pathway, etc. were all associated with osmotic regulation. Importantly, progesterone-mediated oocyte maturation pathway was only significant in the hyper-osmotic dataset, however, alpha-Linolenic acid metabolism pathway in the hypo-osmotic dataset. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that IVD accommodation mechanism is important in response to osmotic stimuli.