FIGURE 7.

Inflammatory gene expression of injured wild‐type and IL‐1Ra−/− caudal IVDs at 2 and 6 weeks post injury. At 2 weeks post injury, there was significant upregulation of IL‐1β, TNF‐α, and eotaxin in WT mice, while there was significant downregulation of the same genes in IL‐1Ra−/− mice. At 6 weeks post injury, there was significant downregulation in both WT and IL‐1Ra−/− groups, as compared to the baseline condition of 3‐month uninjured WT mice; however, there was no difference between the WT and IL‐Ra−/− mice at 6 weeks post injury