Expression of Leptin and Its Functional Receptor on Disc Cells

STUDY DESIGN: Human herniated disc tissues and rat nucleus pulposus (NP) cells were used following approval by the authors' institutional Human Ethics Review Committee and Animal Care and Use Committee. OBJECTIVE: To determine the expression of leptin and its functional receptor in herniated disc tissues, and to elucidate whether leptin can stimulate rat NP cells to proliferate in vitro. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: There is evidence showing that chondrocytes express leptin and functional leptin receptor, and leptin stimulates chondrocyte proliferation in vitro and may play a role in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis by contributing to osteophyte formation. Intervertebral disc degeneration, similar to osteoarthritis, is also a complicated process in which increased cell proliferation is involved. However, little attention has been…