2024, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (36): 5872-5876

Mitophagy and intervertebral disc degeneration

Pan Shihong1, Liu Ruiduan2   

Abstract: BACKGROUND: During intervertebral disc degeneration, mitophagy plays an extremely important role in preventing the progression of intervertebral disc degeneration. Regulating the level of mitophagy may be a new strategy for the treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration.
OBJECTIVE: To review the relationship between mitophagy and intervertebral disc, in order to provide a reference for the treatment of intervertebral disc degeneration by regulating the level of mitophagy.
METHODS: A literature search was performed in CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, and PubMed using “intervertebral disc degeneration, mitophagy, targeted therapy, inflammation, signaling pathways” as Chinese and English search terms. Finally, 54 articles were included and summarized.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) At present, the specific mechanism of intervertebral disc degeneration is not clear. A large number of studies have shown that intervertebral disc degeneration is closely related to mitophagy, which involves a relatively complex mechanism and pathway. Among various pathways, PINK1/Parkin is the most widely studied signaling pathway for mitophagy regulation. (2) Some drugs, such as Salidroside, Urolithin A, Honokiol, MitoQ, have been found to have the potential to treat intervertebral disc degeneration by regulating the level of mitophagy. These drugs have shown positive preclinical results. (3) At present, the targeted therapy of mitophagy is mainly preclinical research and has achieved positive results. Further clinical research is needed to explore its clinical efficacy and safety.

Key words: intervertebral disc degeneration, mitophagy, targeted therapy, signaling pathway, inflammation, mitochondrial function