Abstract

ALVES, Belmiro M. K. O.  and  ALVES, Jorge M. S. R. O.. Mecanismos imunológicos na reabsorção espontânea de hérnias do disco intervertebral. Rev. Port. Ortop. Traum. [online]. 2018, vol.26, n.3, pp.210-227. ISSN 1646-2122.

It has been proven that the intervertebral disc hernia may suffer a phenomenon of spontaneous resorption and there is evidence in literature that this is mediated by immunological mechanisms. The intervertebral disc is considered one of the human immunological privileged sites, being also the largest avascular organ in the human body. It is foreseen that the invasion of this immunologically privileged state that occurs during herniation may expose the IVD to the immune system hence triggering an immune response in order to promote its resorption. The aim of this “monography” is to review literature and systematize the possible mechanisms by which the resorption of the intervertebral disc hernia occurs. The database used was PUBMED where full text articles and English-written reviews published between 1953 and 2017 were preferred. The MeSH terms used were ‘intervertebral disc’, ‘intervertebral disc displacement’, ‘spontaneous resorption’ and ‘immune system’ either alone or in combination. The references of the articles were also considered when searching for the most relevant articles. It is widely accepted that the resorption process of the herniated disc implies mechanisms such as neovascularization, chemotaxis of immune cells and synthesis of a granulated tissue culminating in the phagocytosis of the herniated material. However, there is controversy as to which immunity is implicated in this process thus both innate immunity and adaptive immunity may be involved.

Keywords : Intervertebral Disc Displacement; Intervertebral Disc; Immune System; Immunology.

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