Fig. 5.

Changes in intervertebral disc height index (DHI) after anular puncture and rhGDF-5 injections (Reprinted from: Chujo T et al. (2005) Spine J. S: S145 with permission from Elsevier, Spine in print). By 4 weeks after the rhGDF-5 injection, the mean %DHI of injected discs in the rhGDF-5 group (100 μg) was significantly higher than in the PBS group (P<0.05). Six weeks after the injection of rhGDF-5, the %DHI was significantly higher, at doses of 1 and 100 μg, in the rhGDF-5 group when compared to the PBS group (control versus rhGDF-5 1 and 100 μg; P<0.01). The effect of a single injection of rhGDF-5 continued to be significant throughout the study