Objective: To investigate the characteristic of the expression of collagen type I in the articular processes of apex from adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) patients.
Methods: The apical processes of 11 AIS patients were collected. The techniques of HE staining and In-cell Western were adopted in this research. We studied the pathological changes of the apical processes and collected and cultured the osteoblast from the apical processes on both sides in vitro separately. After cell identification, we compared the secretion of collagen type I in the osteoblast from concave side to that of convex side.
Results: The cartilages of the apical processes showed some signs of regression. The secretion of collagen type I of the osteoblast in vitro from the concave side of the apical articular process was significantly higher than that from the convex side (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: Significant difference of the gene expression of the osteoblasts from the apical process exists between the concave side and the convex side.