Pressure related changes in human lumbosacral zygapophyseal joint articular cartilage

A brief histomorphologic study is presented of pressure related changes in the hyaline cartilage of paired left and right lumbosacral zygapophyseal joints in 6 cadavers. A comparison of the histology of the left and right zygapophyseal joint cartilages by light microscopy and dark field microscopy showed that, when dark field microscopy is used, a different histological reaction to staining can be highlighted. A similar change was not found using polarized light. It is not within the scope of this brief report to investigate the changes observed in this histological study.