Abstract
THE nucleus pulposus of the normal human intervertebral disk consists of collagen fibrils dispersed in a gel of polysaccharide and protein complexes. During ageing collagen fibrils are deposited as a matrix showing increasing orientation with age as seen from X-ray diffraction investigations1. In the case of specimens of more than 70 years of age, the normal photograph shows with the diagram of oriented collagen a clearly defined ring of spacing 4.7 Å., which is similar to that associated with a denatured β-protein1 The presence of other components in the disk, for example, calcium phosphate, etc., will be discussed in a later publication. It was postulated from consideration of earlier work1 that the soluble protein molecules normally found in a folded form in the nucleus had unfolded and formed a hydrogen-bonded lattice which gave rise to this spacing.
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Naylor, A., Happey, F., and MacRae, T. P., Brit. Med. J., ii, 570 (1954).
Mitchell, P. E. G., Henry, N. G. C., and Billewicz, W. Z., J. Bone Joint Surg., 43, B, 141 (1961).
Naylor, A., 1962 Arris and Gale Lecture (Royal College of Surgeons, London, January 1962).
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BLAKEY, P., HAPPEY, F., NAYLOR, A. et al. Protein in the Nucleus Pulposus of the Intervertebral Disk. Nature 195, 73 (1962). https://doi.org/10.1038/195073a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/195073a0
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