AGE-RELATED DISK DEGENERATION - PRELIMINARY-REPORT OF A NATURALLY-OCCURRING BABOON MODEL

Anteroposterior and lateral radiographs of 126 adult baboons were reviewed. The mean age was 15.7 years (range 6-30 years). Evidence of disk degeneration, to include disk-space narrowing, osteophyte formation, endplate changes, and facet joint arthropathy, was noted, and a grading scale, grades 0-3, was used to assign each animal an overall grade for degree of disk degeneration. Lateral radiographs were measured in the area of maximal sagittal plane curvatures. Radiographic review demonstrated a strongly positive correlation between the age of the baboons and the degree of degenerative change (p < 0.0001), between the degree of kyphosis and the degree of degenerative change (p < 0.0001), and between the age of the animal and the degree of kyphosis (p < 0.001). This pilot study demonstrates plain radiographic confirmation of a naturally occurring primate model of disk degeneration, the first such model described, and is the basis for further investigation into magnetic resonance imaging and histopathologic confirmation of this model.