著者

宮本 浩次

出版者

日本関節病学会

雑誌

日本リウマチ・関節外科学会雑誌 (ISSN:02873214)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.11, no.1, pp.77-88, 1992

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Although many investigators had studied the innervation of the posterior longitudinal ligament (PLL) with regard to the pathogenesis of low back pain, the precise distribution of the nerve fibers had not been clarified before Kojima's acetylcholinesterase histochemical study. In my study here, innervation of the PLL of the rat lumber vertebral column was investigated by immunohistochemical staining of the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) and substance P (SP) .<BR>The PLL was found to contain dense nerve networks of numerous CGRP and SP-like Immunoreactive fibers which demonstrated nerve endings with marked varicosity. They were divided into two systems. One was a network which was distributed in the vertebral portion and in the superficial layer of the intervertebral portion of the PLL, and the other was the network existing in the profound layer in the intervertebral portion known as enthesis of the PLL. They were supplied by nerve fibers through the meningeal branches of the spinal nerves and the gray communicating branches.<BR>This study suggests that the CGRP and the SP-like immunoreactive fibers in the PLL are associated with not only the conduction of nociceptive stimuli but also the regulation of spinal motion and metabolism of the enthesis.