[Ultrastructure of the intervertebral disks of children and adolescents]

An electron microscopic investigation of the human intervertebral discs has been performed during an active growth of the spinal column. A certain connection has been revealed between an increasing functional cellular activity and an increased physiological loading on the spinal column connected with transition of the child to walking and an increased growth during sex maturation. Unusual forms of collagen have been revealed: banded structures with periodization of 120 nm and amianthoid fibres with period of 30 and 55 nm in the nucleus pulposus and the hyaline cartilage of the intervertebral discs occlusive plate.