In vitro coupled motions of the whole human thoracic and lumbar spine with rib cage.

Study Design: In vitro biomechanical study investigating the coupled motions of the whole normative human thoracic spine (TS) and lumbar spine (LS) with rib cage.

Objective: To quantify the region-specific coupled motion patterns and magnitudes of the TS, thoracolumbar junction (TLJ), and LS simultaneously.

Background: Studying spinal coupled motions is important in understanding the development of complex spinal deformities and providing data for validating computational models.

Thoracic vertebral morphology in normal and scoliosis deformity in skeletally immature rabbits: A Longitudinal study.

Objective: To measure age-related changes in thoracic vertebral body heights (VBH) in skeletally immature normative and scoliotic rabbits to assess how VBH change during growth. To examine the potential link between the moment-arm of the rib tether and vertebral wedging as well as the sum of the curvature angles at the apical level (T7). To assess the correlation between the magnitude of initial spine curve and final spine curve in the scoliotic group.

Restoration of physiologic loading modulates engineered intervertebral disc structure and function in an in vivo model.

Tissue-engineered whole disc replacements are an emerging treatment strategy for advanced intervertebral disc degeneration. A challenge facing the translation of tissue-engineered disc replacement to clinical use are the opposing needs of initial immobilization to advantage integration contrasted with physiologic loading and its anabolic effects. Here, we utilize our established rat tail model of tissue engineered disc replacement with external fixation to study the effects of remobilization at two time points postimplantation on engineered disc structure, composition, and function.