Fig. 6From: Denosumab alleviates intervertebral disc degeneration adjacent to lumbar fusion by inhibiting endplate osteochondral remodeling and vertebral osteoporosis in ovariectomized ratsHistological illustration of the L5–L6 segments of the lumbar spine in different groups. a Safranin O and fast green staining of L5–L6. b Safranin-O green staining of cartilage endplate. Green hollow pentagram indicates cartilage endplate cells, and green solid quadrilateral indicates new bony tissue. c The degenerative changes in the nucleus pulposus visualized with safranin-O green staining. A white triangle indicates notochordal cells, thin white arrow indicates chondrocyte-like cells, and large white arrow indicates mucoid degeneration. d Safranin O and fast green staining of annulus fibrosus (blue asterisk indicates regular annulus fibrosus, blue pound sign indicates cleft/crack, thin blue arrow indicates chondrocyte-like cells, and large blue arrow indicates mucoid degeneration in the annulus fibrosus). Note:★, vertebral epiphysis; ☆, cartilage endplate; ◇, vertebral physis; ◆, bony tissue; scale bars = 500 μm and 100 μm as indicatedBack to article page