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Study Design.

A literature review of intervertebral disc degeneration animal models.

Objectives.

Focus is placed on those models that suggest degeneration mechanisms relevant to human.

Summary of Background Data.

Medical knowledge from observational epidemiology and intervention studies suggest many etiologic causal factors in humans. Animal models can provide basic science data that support biologic plausibility as well as temporality, specificity, and dose-response relationships.

Methods.

Studies are classified as either experimentally induced or spontaneous, where experimentally induced models are subdivided as mechanical (alteration of the magnitude or distribution of forces on the normal joint) or structural (injury or chemical alteration). Spontaneous models include those animals that naturally develop degenerative disc disease.

Results.

Mechanobiologic relationships are apparent as stress …