Spermidine promotes nucleus pulposus autophagy as a protective mechanism against apoptosis and ameliorates disc degeneration |
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Authors: | Zengming Zheng Zhou‐Guang Wang Yu Chen Jian Chen Sinan Khor Jiawei Li Zili He Qingqing Wang Hongyu Zhang Ke Xu Gong Fanghua Jian Xiao Xiangyang Wang |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China;2. School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Key Laboratory of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China;3. Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA;4. The Institute of Life Sciences, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou, China |
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Abstract: | Spermidine has therapeutic effects in many diseases including as heart diastolic function, myopathic defects and neurodegenerative disorders via autophagy activation. Autophagy has been found to mitigate cell apoptosis in intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD). Accordingly, we theorize that spermidine may have beneficial effects on IDD via autophagy stimulation. In this study, spermidine's effect on IDD was evaluated in tert‐butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP)‐treated nucleus pulposus cells of SD rats in vitro as well as in a puncture‐induced rat IDD model. We found that autophagy was actuated by spermidine in nucleus pulposus cells. In addition, spermidine treatment weakened the apoptotic effects of TBHP in nucleus pulposus cells. Spermidine increased the expression of anabolic proteins including Collagen‐II and aggrecan and decreased the expression of catabolic proteins including MMP13 and Adamts‐5. Additionally, autophagy blockade using 3‐MA reversed the beneficial impact of spermidine against nucleus pulposus cell apoptosis. Autophagy was thus important for spermidine's therapeutic effect on IDD. Spermidine‐treated rats had an accentuated T2‐weighted signal and a diminished histological degenerative grade than vehicle‐treated rats, showing that spermidine inhibited intervertebral disc degeneration in vivo. Thus, spermidine protects nucleus pulposus cells against apoptosis through autophagy activation and improves disc, which may be beneficial for the treatment of IDD. |
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Keywords: | apoptosis autophagy intervertebral disc degeneration oxidative stress spermidine |
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