OBJECTIVE: To establish an animal model of lumbar disc degeneration in rabbits through endplate injury induction. METHODS: Twenty New Zealand rabbits were selected, and the anterior soft tissue of the vertebrae was bluntly separated by a median abdominal incision, approximately 15 cm long, retroperitoneally, to expose the anterior aspect of the spine. The intervertebral discs between L4-5 and L5-6 were exposed, and the L4-5, L5-6 endplates, L1-2, and L2-3 discs were damaged with a special curved needle as the control group, and then sutured layer by layer. All animals were kept under standard conditions, and lumbar computed radiography (DR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed before and 1, 3, and 5 months after surgery to detect changes in the sublaminar bone and nucleus pulposus. RESULTS: Postoperative MRI and CR scans showed no abnormalities in the L1-2 and L2-3 discs in the autologous control group, while the L4-5 and L5-6 discs in the surgical group showed T2-weighted image hyposignal, lumbar instability deformity, subendplate osteophyte sclerosis, vertebral body margin hyperostosis, narrowing of the intervertebral space, posterior disc protrusion and dural sac compression, etc. Blurred T1 images were not used. CONCLUSION: A slowly degenerating lumbar disc degeneration model in rabbits can be obtained by applying the endplate injury method, which can be confirmed by MRI and CR.