Structural features of the intervertebral disc in rats

The aim of our work was to study the structural organization of the components of vertebral disc of rats on the microscopic level in the normal state.This goal was achieved by means of microscopic method of visualization of cellular components of the intervertebral disc of rats. Histological preparations were made in accordance with the conventional method of using the dye hematoxylin, eosin and azan according to the method of Heidenhain, PAS reaction according to MacManus and Alcian blue according to Steedman.As a result of the microstructural study, it was ascertained that the rat’s intervertebral disc normally consists of a gelatinous (pulpal) nucleus and a fibrous ring. It is separated from the vertebral bodies by a thin layer of cartilaginous tissue of the locking plates and hyaline cartilage, which covers the bodies of adjacent vertebrae. The data that rats do not have locking plates can be rarely found in the literature. The vessels verging the intervertebral disc radially -in front, back and from the sides, branch out from the vessels of vertebral periosteum. In the cartilaginous tissue of intervertebral disc, vessels are not visualized.