Background: Low back pain is often caused by the degeneration of intervertebral disc. Cigarette smoking has been found to be related to the disturbance of intervertebral disc function. This study aimed to evaluate the type II collagen expression in the intervertebral disc after cigarette smoke exposure with an experimental study using male wistar rats. Methods: This research was an experimental study using post-test only group design conducted in January to April 2021. The samples were 21 male adult wistar rats which were divided into 3 groups. There were 3 rats included in the control group (without exposure), 9 rats included in the Group I (4 weeks of exposure), and 9 rats included in the Group II (8 weeks of exposure). Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining and microscopic observation were done to the vertebral specimen to evaluate the type II collagen expression. There were 2 observers whose observation results were compared and tested using kappa reliability test. Data were analysed using chi square test. Results: There were a total of 21 samples included in this study. All samples from the control group showed strong staining, while moderate staining was found dominant (77.8%) in the group I, and weak staining was dominant (55.6%) in the group II. Kappa reliability test showed k = 0,62 (p<0,05) and was interpreted as substantial agreement. Chi square analysis showed there was a significant difference between the IHC staining results of the control group and group II (p = 0.002). Conclusion: There was a significant decrease of type II collagen expression in the intervertebral disc of male adult wistar rats which were exposed to cigarette smoke for 2 months

cigarette

intervertebral disk

type III collagen