The vertebral end-plate: what do we know?

Abstract

The vertebral end-plate ¶is critical for maintaining the health of the intervertebral disc. This ¶paper reviews the literature that relates to end-plate structure and development and describes how disc integrity is affected by changes ¶associated with pathology and ¶aging. A range of studies, including biomechanical, biochemical, ¶surgical and histological is discussed to illustrate the important role of the end-plate in spinal function.