Figure 4

Photomicrographs of disc tissue from the annulus in a region of healthy matrix (Fig. 4B, surgical specimen from a 46 year old female) and from a region with marked matrix changes (Fig. 4D, surgical specimen from a 54 year old male). In Figures 4A and 4C, collagen crimping patterns throughout the same microscopic fields shown in Figs. 4B and 4D are converted to graphic images with three-dimensional intensity images using BioScan^® OPTIMAS™ using the following settings for both images: rotation: x, 25.000; y, 1.000; sampling, x: 45, y:45, and viewpoint Z: 3000.0 . White arrows in Fig. 4D mark small regions showing collagen crimping, but degenerative changes in the tissue disrupt crimping in the adjacent regions. (Figs. 4B and 4D, polarized light, picrosirius red/alcian blue, X 102).