Objective        To establish a rabbit model of degenerative lumbar intervertebral disc by minimally invasive percutaneous annulus needle puncture.       Methods      Under the guidance of C-arm X-ray machine

18 rabbits were operated on the L3/4

L4/5 and L5/6 intervertebral discs

and were randomly divided into group A (4 weeks)

group B (8 weeks) and group C (12 weeks). Rabbits were sacrificed after MRI detection

and the L3/4

L4/5 and L5/6 intervertebral disc nucleus pulposus were isolated. HE staining was used to observe nucleus pulposus cells

and imm

unohistochemical staining was carried out to observe type Ⅱ collagen. The L2/3 and L6/7 normal intervertebral discs were used as controls.       Results      The lumbar MRI results after operation indicated a decreasing tendency of the signal intensity before and after puncture of nucleus pulposus (L3/4

L4/5 and L5/6) (

P

0.05). HE staining showed the nucleus pulposus of the control group had a large number of nucleus pulposus cells

which declined at 4 and 8 weeks after modeling. There were mainly fibrocartilage tissues in the nucleus pulposus after 12 weeks

accompanied by very few amount of marrow nucleated cells. The gray values of type Ⅱ collagen were analyzed in the control group and the operation groups after 4

8 and 12 weeks by one-way ANOVA

and the result was F=41.82 (

P

0.05). The results of comparison among groups by LSD t-test showed significant differences among all the groups except for that between group A and group B (

P

0.05).       Conclusion      The rabbit model of minimally invasive lumbar intervertebral disc degeneration is successfully established.