Comparison of Antioxidant mRNA expression levels of advanced Protruded and Extruded Nucleus Pulposus in Degenerative Lumbar Disc Herniations using the RT-PCR method

Purpose: The aim of the present study is to compare the antioxidant levels of nucleus pulposus in advanced protruded and extruded lumbar disc hernias (LDH) with a steady lumbar posterior longitudinal ligament with the Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) method. Method: This study was conducted with the comparison of the disc sections of a total of 40 patients who underwent an operation due to advanced protruded (n=20) and extruded (n=20) LDH with the TRI-Reagent？ and Ribonucleic acid (RNA) isolation and the RT-PCR method between January 2013 and May 2016. The study included patients diagnosed with lumbar disc herniation who were applied with microdiscectomy surgery. The antioxidant levels of the disc material, which caused compression because it was highly protrudedorextruded, were detected using the RT-PCR method,and the expression levels of the genes were determined. Results: The antioxidant levels of the disc materials of a total of 40 patients, who underwent an operation due to protruded and extruded disc hernia, were determined with the RT-PCR method. The patients were found 25 females with a mean age of 36.4 years and 15 males with a mean age of 39.26 years. Of the total patients, 20 had MacNab grade 2 (protruded) and 20 had MacNab grade 3 (extruded) disc hernias. The expressions of protruded LDH materials were found to be lower than those of extruded LDH materials. Conclusion: Although the expression levels of the significant antioxidant molecules of TGF-β, FGF-β, IGF-1, NGF, MMP-3, and GAPDH mRNA, in patients with extruded LDH were significantly higher compared to those with protruded LDH, no distinctive features of these levels could be determined in terms of discogenic pain and postoperative clinical improvement