Estradiol Alleviates Intervertebral Disc Degeneration through Modulating the Antioxidant Enzymes and Inhibiting Autophagy in the Model of Menopause Rats

Figure 7

Schematic of the working hypothesis. Low level of estrogen leads to oxidative stress in the NP tissue of IVD, and at the same time, the level of autophagy increased as a response to the stress. ERT could modulate the redox balance, by which IVDD can be retarded partly.