Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Intervertebral disc degeneration and endplate abnormalities may be the cause of discogenic low back pain, extensive literatures have reported that inflammatory cytokines play an important role in lumbar degenerative diseases.  
OBJECTIVE: To summary the research progress of inflammatory cytokines in the lumbar Modic changes.
METHODS: The computers were used to retrieve database-related articles on Chinese biomedical literature service system from January 2010 to September 2011 with the key words of "Modic changes, Vertebral endplate” in Chinese. A computer-based retrieve was preformed on the PubMed database for the relate articles with the key words of “Modic changes, Vertebral endplate” in English. A total of 48 articles were retrieved, and finally, 30 articles were included according to the inclusion criteria.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The lumbar Modic change refers to the abnormal signal on MRI of the lumbar endplate and endplate under bone changes, and the lesion mechanism is not very clear. Literatures have confirmed that the nucleus pulposus degeneration of the internal generation of inflammatory substances (tumor necrosis factor/neural marker protein gene product/leukocyte interleukin) can lead to local inflammation through the endplate diffusion and finally cause the endplate degeneration. In recent years, with the rapid development of molecular biology and molecular immunology, as well as in-depth study of cytokines and inflammatory mediators, the effect of cytokines and inflammatory mediators in lumbar endplate degeneration attracted more and more attention, the current researches on the effect of cytokines and inflammatory mediators in the lumbar Modic changes are being further in-depth.