Abstract

APORTA, Natalia Brachetta; GONZALEZ, Paula N; BERNAL, Valeria  and  MARTINEZ-MAZA, Cayetana. Cambios morfológicos en la mandíbula durante la ontogenia: un aporte desde la histología y la morfometría geométrica. Rev Arg Antrop Biol [online]. 2016, vol.18, n.2. ISSN 1514-7991.  http://dx.doi.org/10.17139/raab.2016.0018.02.06.

The analysis of craniofacial morphology during ontogeny has a central role in evolutionary, developmental, and biomedical studies. The craniofacial complex has been studied from two main perspectives: the analysis of its shape and size by means of linear and geometric morphometrics, and the study of underlying processes through histological analysis of the bone surface. The aim of this work is to integrate these two lines of evidence to analyze the morphological changes of the mandible and provide a growth model that can account for such changes. We analyzed a sample of human mandibles from subadult and adult individuals of European origin. Shape changes were analyzed using landmark coordinates and regressions of shape coordinates on size. Areas of bone formation and resorption were identified on high-resolution replicas of the bone surface. The results indicate that variation at the anatomical scale, as described by morphometric techniques, is broadly consistent with that inferred from the distribution of the areas of bone modeling. However, important changes such as growth-related rotational movements of the mandible could only be detected through morphometric analysis. Also, both types of data showed differences in the directions of change inferred for the mandibular symphysis. This work highlights the importance of integrating histological and morphometric data to understand the patterns and processes of morphological change in ontogeny.

Keywords : growth; bone modeling; size and shape.

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