Abstract: Objective　To explore anatomic features of adult lumber vertebral endplantes under CT imaging, and  provide anatomical evidence for the design of intervertebral fusion and the complications of disc arthroplasty surgery.　Methods　The CT data of 62 non-spinal disorders patients with 310 lumbar vertebrae from L1 to L5 were measured at the upper endplates and lower endplates separately. The posterior endplates of lumbar vertebral at coronal plane were classified into 3 types: type I concave; type Ⅱ flat; type Ⅲ convex. The following data were measured: (1) Vertical distances from middle line of the endplate to left pedicle of the upper and lower endplates, to midpoint of the connecting endplate  (LLU, LLL); (2) Vertical distances from middle line of the endplate to right pedicle of the upper and lower endplates, to midpoint the connecting endplate ( LRu, LRL) (3) Vertical distances from middle line of the endplate to the midpoint of the of the posterior upper and lower endplates at coronal plane (LMu, LML). 　Results　Type I endplates had the highest proportion from L1~4 at the upper and lower endplates. At L1, L2, L3, L4, type I endplate accounted for 93.75%, 77.27%, 58.33%, 66.67% of upper endplate respectively, and 80%, 68.18%, 54.17%, 55.56% of lower endplate respectively. Type I and type Ⅲ were the main types of upper endplate at L5, accounting for 35.48%, 35.48%. Type Ⅲ was the main type of lower endplate at L5 , accounting for 61.29% . Sex difference of LLU、LRU、LMU of the upper endplates at L2 was statistically significant(P<0.05). Sex difference of LLL、LRL of the lower endplates at L3 was all statistically significant(P<0.05).　Conclusions　The mainly types of upper and lower endplates at L1~4 are type I, while the types of upper endplate at L5 are type I and type Ⅱ, the type of lower endplate at L5 is Type III. The research on morphological classification and measurement of upper and lower endplates of lumbar vertebral will be beneficial to the improvement of future design of the artificial lumbar disc prosthesis.

Key words: Lumbar vertebral, 　Endplate, 　Morpho-logy, 　Lumbar disc replacement