Table 7.

Concentrations of selected elements in degenerated intervertebral discs, depending on the degree of radiological degeneration, according to the Pfirrmann scale.

Microelement (mg/kg−1 Dry Matter)		Cu	Fe	Mn	Pb	Zn	Na	Mg	K	P	Ca
Pfirrmann Scale	p < 0.05	p = 0.014	p = 0.003	p = 0.461	p = 0.488	p = 0.397	p = 0.633	p = 0.989	p = 0.292	p = 0.380	p = 0.348
2		3.71 ± 1.79	223.90 ± 21.37	0.17 ± 0.04	1.50 ± 1.26	48.71 ± 33.96	1.47 ± 0.31	0.08 ± 0.06	0.17 ± 0.07	1.65 ± 2.52	4.29 ± 6.41
3		2.31 ± 1.16	126.72 ± 52.19	0.71 ± 0.99	1.30 ± 0.82	30.98 ± 7.81	1.30 ± 0.64	0.08 ± 0.07	0.11 ± 0.02	0.42 ± 0.39	1.04 ± 0.85
4		1.56 ± 0.96	109.29 ± 58.21	0.33 ± 0.37	1.06 ± 0.54	40.02 ± 16.29	1.27 ± 0.47	0.08 ± 0.07	0.16 ± 0.09	0.72 ± 0.92	2.08 ± 2.22
5		1.12 ± 0.74	111.70 ± 44.24	0.43 ± 0.48	1.88 ± 1.04	36.41 ± 14.35	0.98 ± 0.38	0.09 ± 0.05	0.20 ± 0.13	1.11 ± 1.27	2.93 ± 3.27

mean ± standard deviation; Cu, copper; Fe, iron; Mn, manganese; Pb, lead; Zn, zinc; Na, sodium; Mg, magnesium; K, potassium; P, phosphorus; Ca, calcium.