Kejun Hu; Haoran Gao & Xueli Wang

The objective of this study was to investigate the outcomes of various doses of celecoxib (Cel) on the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13) in rat model of intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) and their correlation. The rat model of IVDD was established, and 68 successfully modeled rats were grouped: A, B, C, and D groups (AG, BG, CG, DG), with 17 rats in each. Pathological changes of the nucleus pulposus (NP) tissue and the expression of bFGF and MMP-13 were detected using hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, immunohistochemistry, and Western blotting (WB), followed by Pearson correlation analysis (PCA). HE staining suggested that the degeneration of the NP tissue in BG was clear, and CG and DG slowed down the pathological changes to some extent. The results of immunohistochemistry and WB analysis indicated that the expression of bFGF and MMP-13 in BG was markedly higher as against AG, and the expression in the CG and DG was markedly reduced (P <0.05). The correlation coefficient of bFGF and MMP-13 in immunohistochemical analysis was r=0.981 (P <0.001), and in WB analysis, it was r=0.813 (P <0.001). Cel was found to effectively inhibit the expression of bFGF and MMP-13 during the process of IVDD, slow down the degenerative process, and suggested potential therapeutic effects.

KEY WORDS: Cel; Lumbar disc degeneration; bFGF; MMP-13; Correlation analysis.

HU, K.; GAO, H. & WANG, X. Effect of different doses of Celecoxib on the expression of basic fibroblast growth factor and matrix metalloproteinase-13 as morphological indicators in rat model of lumbar disc degeneration. Int. J. Morphol., 43(1):250-257, 2025.