UNASSIGNED: AIS patients who received surgery in our center were prospectively enrolled. Meanwhile, age-matched congenital scoliosis (CS) and non-scoliosis patients were also included as controls. Fresh samples of paraspinal muscles were harvested intraoperatively. NMJs were immunolabeled using different antibodies to reveal pre-synaptic neuronal architecture and post-synaptic motor endplates. A confocal microscope was used to acquire z-stack projections of NMJs images. Then, NMJs images were analyzed on maximum intensity projections using ImageJ software. The morphology of NMJs was quantitatively measured by a standardized \'NMJ-morph\' workflow. A total of 21 variables were measured and compared between different groups.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 15 AIS patients, 10 CS patients and 5 normal controls were enrolled initially. For AIS group, NMJs in the convex side of paraspinal muscles demonstrated obviously decreased overlap when compared with the concave side (34.27% ± 8.09% vs. 48.11% ± 10.31%, p = 0.0036). However, no variables showed statistical difference between both sides of paraspinal muscles in CS patients. In contrast with non-scoliosis controls, both sides of paraspinal muscles in AIS patients demonstrated significantly smaller muscle bundle diameters.
UNASSIGNED: This study first elucidated the morphological features of NMJs from paraspinal muscles of AIS patients. The NMJs in the convex side showed smaller overlap for AIS patients, but no difference was found in CS. This proved further evidence that neuromuscular factors might contribute to the mechanisms of AIS and could be considered as a novel potential therapeutic target for the treatment of progressive AIS.
■在我们中心接受手术的AIS患者被前瞻性纳入。同时,年龄匹配的先天性脊柱侧凸(CS)和非脊柱侧凸患者也作为对照.术中收集新鲜的椎旁肌肉样品。使用不同的抗体对NMJ进行免疫标记以揭示突触前神经元结构和突触后运动终板。使用共聚焦显微镜来获取NMJ图像的z堆叠投影。然后,使用ImageJ软件在最大强度投影上分析NMJ图像。NMJ的形态通过标准化的“NMJ-变形”工作流程定量测量。在不同组之间测量并比较总共21个变量。
■共有15名AIS患者,最初招募了10名CS患者和5名正常对照。对于AIS组,与凹侧相比,椎旁肌凸侧的NMJ表现出明显减少的重叠(34.27%±8.09%vs.48.11%±10.31%,p=0.0036)。然而,CS患者椎旁肌两侧无统计学差异。与非脊柱侧凸对照相比,AIS患者的两侧椎旁肌肉显示出明显较小的肌束直径。
■本研究首先阐明了AIS患者椎旁肌NMJ的形态学特征。对于AIS患者,凸侧的NMJ显示较小的重叠,但CS没有发现差异。这进一步证明了神经肌肉因素可能有助于AIS的机制,并且可以被认为是治疗进行性AIS的新的潜在治疗靶标。