椎间盘退变是一个多因素协同作用、复杂的生物学过程。生物学方法治疗椎间盘退变主要针对几个关键环节进行干预，疗效的评估也只是局限于所干预环节相关的分子生物学指标和受主观因素影响较大的功能学指标，缺乏一套能够综合评价椎间盘整体功能状态、客观评估生物学方法治疗椎间盘退变疗效的科学、统一的标准。本项目拟运用代谢组学这个可对生物体内所有代谢物进行定量分析、并能揭示代谢物与生理病理变化相关性的新兴系统生物学研究方法，深入探讨不同退变阶段椎间盘的代谢特点，进一步认识椎间盘退变这个病理生理过程，追溯导致退变椎间盘代谢变化的关键因素；客观评估不同生物学治疗方法对椎间盘代谢的干预效果，观察干预椎间盘退变某个特定环节时，其他环节和途径代谢水平的变化，探究影响疗效的分子机制；验证应用代谢水平这个平台作为衡量不同生物学治疗方法疗效的统一标准的可行性，从而为椎间盘退变的诊断、治疗及预后评价等研究开拓新的思路。

Degeneration of intervertebral discs is a complicated biological phenomenon involving multiple determinants. A biological therapeutic method is usually used to moderate certain processes during the disc degeneration. Assessment on its outcomes has been focused on the related biological parameters and some functional parameters which are likely influenced by the subjective manipulators. No scientific and systemic criterion so far is available to assess the integral functional condition and evaluate the therapeutic outcomes of a biological treatment option. In this project, the Metabonomics, a novel research tool which can be used to quantitively analyze all the metabolin in a organism and identify causal relationship between metabolin and physiopathological changes, will be utilized to study the metabolic features of a degenerative intervertebral disc, deeply understand this pathophysiological phenomenon, and try to find out the key factors involved in the disc degeneration. The Metabonomics will be also used objectively assess the intervention of various biological methods on the metabolism of intervertebral discs. Then the metabolic changes of other pathways will be evaluated when one specific pathway is intervened, aimed to study the molecular mechanism of unfavorable therapeutic outcomes. In addition, the feasibility that Metabonomics acts as a universal criterion to evaluate the biological therapeutic outcomes will be certified. A new idea should be evoked based on this research work to improve the evaluation on diagnosis, treatment and prognosis on the degeneration of intervertebral discs.