Tensile properties of the annulus fibrosus II. Ultimate tensile strength and fatigue life.

Part I of this study showed that collagen fibres do need not need to be continuous to reinforce the annulus fibrosus, and that 15-mm-wide samples of annulus retain about 44% of their in situ stiffness and strength when stretched vertically. Part II investigated the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) and fatigue life of such samples. Vertical slices, 5 mm thick and 30 mm wide, were cut from the anterior and posterior margins of the annulus and adjacent vertebral bodies. Each slice was divided sagittally to obtain a matched pair of specimens. The bony ends of each specimen were secured in a materials testing machine so that the annulus could be stretched vertically, as occurs during bending movements of the spine in life. One of each pair of specimens was stretched to failure to obtain its UTS; the other was cyclically loaded at some fraction of the UTS until failure occurred. Tensile failure started with the hyaline cartilage end-plate being stripped off the underlying bone and ended with the most peripheral annular fibres pulling out of the matrix. The estimated in situ strength in the vertical direction was 3.9 MPa for the anterior annulus and 8.6 MPa for the posterior annulus. Fatigue failure could occur in less than 10000 cycles if the tensile force exceeded 45% of the UTS. The results explain why radial fissures often fail to penetrate the peripheral annulus. When compared with in vivo measurements of spinal loading, they suggest that repetitive forward bending movements could cause fatigue failure of the posterior annulus.