Figure 10. RT-qPCR validation of human NP tissue. (A) Typical human MR T2-weighted images of grade II and grade IV. The degenerated discs were indicated by white arrows. (B–K) Cuproptosis genes FDX1, LIAS, LIPT1, GCSH, DLST, DLAT, PDHB, exhibited significantly lower expression levels in IDD NP samples than controls, while ATP7A, ATP7B and MTF1 displayed the opposite results. All results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.