IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0112104.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Glycosaminoglycan Content by Gadolinium-Enhanced MRI before and after 21-Days of Head-Down-Tilt Bedrest

Author

Listed:
  • Timmo Koy
  • Jochen Zange
  • Jörn Rittweger
  • Regina Pohle-Fröhlich
  • Matthias Hackenbroch
  • Peer Eysel
  • Bergita Ganse

Abstract

During spaceflight, it has been shown that intervertebral discs (IVDs) increase in height, causing elongation of the spine up to several centimeters. Astronauts frequently report dull lower back pain that is most likely of discogenic origin and may result from IVD expansion. It is unknown whether disc volume solely increases by water influx, or if the content of glycosaminoglycans also changes in microgravity. Aim of this pilot study was to investigate effects of the spaceflight analog of bedrest on the glycosaminoglycan content of human lumbar IVDs. Five healthy, non-smoking, male human subjects of European descent were immobilized in 6° head-down-tilt bedrest for 21 days. Subjects remained in bed 24 h a day with at least one shoulder on the mattress. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans were taken according to the delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (dGEMRIC) protocol before and after bedrest. The outcome measures were T1 and ΔT1. Scans were performed before and after administration of the contrast agent Gd-DOTA, and differences between T1-values of both scans (ΔT1) were computed. ΔT1 is the longitudinal relaxation time in the tissue and inversely related to the glycosaminoglycan-content. For data analysis, IVDs L1/2 to L4/5 were semi-automatically segmented. Zones were defined and analyzed separately. Results show a highly significant decrease in ΔT1 (p

Suggested Citation

  • Timmo Koy & Jochen Zange & Jörn Rittweger & Regina Pohle-Fröhlich & Matthias Hackenbroch & Peer Eysel & Bergita Ganse, 2014. "Assessment of Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Glycosaminoglycan Content by Gadolinium-Enhanced MRI before and after 21-Days of Head-Down-Tilt Bedrest," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(11), pages 1-10, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0112104
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0112104
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0112104
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0112104&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0112104?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Marta Tibiletti & Fabio Galbusera & Cristina Ciavarro & Marco Brayda-Bruno, 2013. "Is the Transport of a Gadolinium-Based Contrast Agent Decreased in a Degenerated or Aged Disc? A Post Contrast MRI Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(10), pages 1-9, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      More about this item

      Statistics

      Access and download statistics

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0112104. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.