Sustained static stress-induced chondrocyte apoptosis in the rat cervical vertebral growth plate and its signal transduction mechanisms.

Apoptosis of the vertebral growth plate chondrocytes plays an important role in the pathogenesis of intervertebral disk degeneration. In this paper, we have successfully established an experimental model induced by static stress and provided a useful method to study the mechanisms of chondrocyte apoptosis. A sustained static load of ≥0.2 MPa over at least 12 h was observed to induce chondrocyte apoptosis, up-regulation of bax and caspase-3 expression, and down-regulation of bcl-2 expression.