(A) Representative histological section of IVDs from Naive, Sham, Injury and BDPP groups obtained at 6-week post-op. Scale bar: 500μm. (B) Morphological changes of the designated experimental IVDs represents using a degeneration scale between 0 and 10 (0 = normal and 10 = severe degeneration). Since the degeneration scores of the IVDs from 1-week and 6-week study did not show a significant difference, they were pooled together for statistical analysis. Scatter plots present the degeneration score from individual animals across the experimental groups (n = 8 for Naïve, n = 9 for Sham, n = 12 for Injury & n = 10 for BDPP). Open and solid symbols represent data obtained at weeks 1 and 6 post-op, respectively. Cross bars present group mean±SEM values. * indicates P<0.05 between groups. (C) Pearson’s correlation analysis between paw withdrawal threshold and degeneration score for Non-BDPP groups (i.e. Naïve, Sham and Injury groups) and BDPP group only. Scatter plots present data points of individual animal; solid-trendline presents significant correlation; dotted-trendline presents non-significant correlation.