The degenerative impact of hyperglycemia on the structure and mechanics of developing murine intervertebral discs.

These compositional and structural changes had a detrimental effect on function, as the diabetic discs were twice as stiff as their wild-type counterparts and demonstrated a significant resistance to deformation. These results indicate that diabetes may predispose the young disc to DDD later in life by altering patterns of extracellular matrix deposition, fiber formation, and motion segment mechanics independently of AGE accumulation.