Table 1.

Demographic features of specimens studied for immunocytochemical localization of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and of its receptor

Subject number	Site	Thompson score	Age (years), gender	Other information	Herniated?
1	L4 to L5: OA, IA, nuc	1.5	45, female	Cooperative Human Tissue Network – unknown cause of death	-
	L3 to L4: OA, IA, nuc	2			-
2	L4 to L5	2	35, female	Surgical specimen	No
3	L4 to L5	2	32, female	Surgical specimen	Yes
4	L5 to S1	2	21, male	Surgical specimen	Yes
5	L4 to L5	2	44, female	Surgical specimen	Yes
6	L4 to L5	2	37, female	Surgical specimen	Yes
7	L4 to L5: OA, IA, nuc	2.5	40, male	Cooperative Human Tissue Network – cause of death, myocardial infarct	-
8	L4 to L5	3	46, female	Surgical specimen	No
9	L3 to L4	3	53, male	Surgical specimen	Yes (recurrent)
10	L4 to L5	3	53, male	Surgical specimen	No
11	L4 to L5, L5 to S1	3	29, female	Surgical specimen	No
12	L4 to L5	3	54, male	Surgical specimen	Yes
13	L2 to L3	3	58, male	Surgical specimen	Yes
14	L1 to L2: OA, IA, nuc	3	33, female	Cooperative Human Tissue Network – cause of death, pulmonary embolism	-
14	T12 to L1: OA, IA, nuc	3.5			-
14	L3 to L4: OA, IA, nuc	4			-
15	L1 to L2, L2 to L3, L3 to L4	4	59, female	Surgical specimen	No
16	L4 to L5	4	39, female	Surgical specimen	Yes (recurrent)
17	L5 to S1	4	48, female	Surgical specimen	Yes (recurrent)
18	L2 to L3, L3 to L4, L4 to L5, L5 to S1	4	56, female	Surgical specimen	No
19	L4 to L5	4	19, male	Surgical specimen	No
20	L3 to L4	4	78, male	Surgical specimen	Yes
21	L5 to S1	5	44, female	Surgical specimen	No
22	L5 to S1	5	39, male	Surgical specimen	No

IA, inner annulus; L, lumbar; nuc, nucleus; OA, outer annulus; L, lumbar.