Figure 1.

Gene expression of aquaporin family members within directly extracted human nucleus pulposus (NP) cells. The number of disc samples in each cohort expressing target genes is represented as percentage expression; the median value is shown by the bars. Target gene expression is separated into cohorts determined by histological grade of degeneration and evidence of infiltrating cells—grade 0‐4 (nondegenerate n = 16), grade 4.1‐6.9 (moderately degenerate n = 13), grade 7‐12 (severely degenerate n = 38), infiltrated (n = 30), total number of samples n = 97. Statistical analysis was performed on proportions expressed P ≤ 0.05