Li L, et al. - By diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI), researchers evaluated the microstructural changes of intervertebral disc degeneration induced by annulus needle puncture in rats. For this investigation, they punctured 18 rats (36 discs) percutaneously at the intervertebral disc between C6/7, C7/8 (C-coccygeal vertebrae) with a 21-gauge needle. According to the histological study, the discs in the rat of the punctured groups were degenerated. Findings suggested that DKI has quantitatively assessed changes in the microstructure of disc degeneration and is a non-invasive method. The DKI multi-parameter analysis is sensitive to changes in discs due to puncture.