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Alendronate Prevents Intervertebral Disc Degeneration Adjacent to a Lumbar Fusion in

Ovariectomized Rats

Zhuang Zhou, Fa-Ming Tian, Peng Wang, Yu Gou, Heng Zhang, Hui-Ping Song, Wen-Ya Wang, Liu Zhang

Alendronate Prevents Intervertebral Disc Degeneration Adjacent to a Lumbar Fusion in Ovariectomized Rats

Key point:1. Osteoporosis exacerbates the adjacent-segment disc

degeneration induced by posterolateral lumbar fusion in an ovariectomized rat model.

2. Alendronate is a novel pharmacotherapeutic strategy that effectively suppresses the progression of adjacent-segment disc degeneration without producing obvious adverse effects on the lumbar posterolateral fusion in ovariectomized rats.

3. Alendronate shows positive effects on both lumbar vertebrae and endplate characteristics, aiding in the suppression of the development of adjacent-segment disc degeneration.

4. Alendronate maintains the molecular metabolic balance of the disc matrix, aiding in the attenuation of adjacent-segment disc degeneration.

Figure 4. Histological scores of the L5-6 intervertebral disc at 12 weeks after PLF. Note: *P<0.05 vs. Sham+V group; □P<0.05 vs.

OVX+V group; #P<0.05 vs. PLF+V group; ■P<0.05 vs. OVX+PLF+V group.