Hydrostatic Pressure Modulates Intervertebral Disc Cell Survival and Extracellular Matrix Homeostasis via Regulating Hippo-YAP/TAZ Pathway

Figure 1

Effect of hydrostatic pressure on histomorphology and glycosaminoglycan synthesis of the rabbit notochordal NP and fibrocartilaginous inner AF: (a) appearance of the self-developed hydrostatic pressure bioreactor and touch-screen control system; (b) appearance of the tissue culture chamber of hydrostatic pressure bioreactor; (c) gross view of the endplate-removed rabbit IVD: the area in the blue circle indicates the notochordal NP, and the area between the red and blue circles indicates the fibrocartilaginous inner AF; (d) HE staining of the notochordal NP and fibrocartilaginous inner AF under graded hydrostatic pressure (200x); (e) alcian blue staining of the notochordal NP and fibrocartilaginous inner AF under graded hydrostatic pressure (200x); (f) quantification of the notochordal NP sGAG under graded hydrostatic pressure; (g) quantification of the fibrocartilaginous inner AF sGAG under graded hydrostatic pressure. . ^#.  μm.