A comparison of proximal humeral cancellous bone of great apes and humans

Scherf, Heike; Harvati, Katerina; Hublin, Jean‐Jacques

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.03.008

Cited by 39 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…As highlighted in this study, considering multiple architectural parameters together can prove more informative in elucidating lifestyles than by studying a single variable in isolation. This result had also been found by other studies in the case of locomotor behavior in primates (Amson & Nyakatura, ; Hébert, Lebrun, & Marivaux, ; Ryan & Shaw, ; Scherf, Harvati, & Hublin, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Trabecular architecture in the humeral metaphyses of non‐avian reptiles (Crocodylia, Squamata and Testudines): Lifestyle, allometry and phylogeny

Plasse

Amson

Bardin

et al. 2019

Journal of Morphology

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The lifestyle of extinct tetrapods is often difficult to assess when clear morphological adaptations such as swimming paddles are absent. According to the hypothesis of bone functional adaptation, the architecture of trabecular bone adapts sensitively to physiological loadings. Previous studies have already shown a clear relation between trabecular architecture and locomotor behavior, mainly in mammals and birds. However, a link between trabecular architecture and lifestyle has rarely been examined. Here, we analyzed trabecular architecture of different clades of reptiles characterized by a wide range of lifestyles (aquatic, amphibious, generalist terrestrial, fossorial, and climbing). Humeri of squamates, turtles, and crocodylians have been scanned with microcomputed tomography. We selected spherical volumes of interest centered in the proximal metaphyses and measured trabecular spacing, thickness and number, degree of anisotropy, average branch length, bone volume fraction, bone surface density, and connectivity density. Only bone volume fraction showed a significant phylogenetic signal and its significant difference between squamates and other reptiles could be linked to their physiologies. We found negative allometric relationships for trabecular thickness and spacing, positive allometries for connectivity density and trabecular number and no dependence with size for degree of anisotropy and bone volume fraction. The different lifestyles are well separated in the morphological space using linear discriminant analyses, but a cross‐validation procedure indicated a limited predictive ability of the model. The trabecular bone anisotropy has shown a gradient in turtles and in squamates: higher values in amphibious than terrestrial taxa. These allometric scalings, previously emphasized in mammals and birds, seem to be valid for all amniotes. Discriminant analysis has offered, to some extent, a distinction of lifestyles, which however remains difficult to strictly discriminate. Trabecular architecture seems to be a promising tool to infer lifestyle of extinct tetrapods, especially those involved in the terrestrialization.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Trabecular architecture in the humeral metaphyses of non‐avian reptiles (Crocodylia, Squamata and Testudines): Lifestyle, allometry and phylogeny

Plasse

Amson

Bardin

et al. 2019

Journal of Morphology

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“…In the humeral head, chimpanzees have higher BV/TV than Neolithic modern humans, recent modern populations and Pongo (Scherf et al. , ). Thus, activity levels alone may not explain the systemic difference in BV/TV between humans, chimpanzees, and other primate taxa.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…; Ryan & Walker, ; Shaw & Ryan, ; Scherf et al. , ) and, for historical reasons (Skedros & Baucom, ), the proximal femur (e.g. Fajardo & Müller, ; MacLatchy & Müller, ; Ryan & Ketcham, ,b, ; Scherf, ; Ryan & Walker, ; Saparin et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systemic patterns of trabecular bone across the human and chimpanzee skeleton

et al. 2018

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Aspects of trabecular bone architecture are thought to reflect regional loading of the skeleton, and thus differ between primate taxa with different locomotor and postural modes. However, there are several systemic factors that affect bone structure that could contribute to, or be the primary factor determining, interspecific differences in bone structure. These systemic factors include differences in genetic regulation, sensitivity to loading, hormone levels, diet, and activity levels. Improved understanding of inter-/intraspecific variability, and variability across the skeleton of an individual, is required to interpret properly potential functional signals present within trabecular structure. Using a whole-region method of analysis, we investigated trabecular structure throughout the skeleton of humans and chimpanzees. Trabecular bone volume fraction (BV/TV), degree of anisotropy (DA) and trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) were quantified from high resolution micro-computed tomographic scans of the humeral and femoral head, third metacarpal and third metatarsal head, distal tibia, talus and first thoracic vertebra. We found that BV/TV is, in most anatomical sites, significantly higher in chimpanzees than in humans, suggesting a systemic difference in trabecular structure unrelated to local loading regime. Differences in BV/TV between the forelimb and hindlimb did not clearly reflect differences in locomotor loading in the study taxa. There were no clear systemic differences between the taxa in DA and, as such, this parameter might reflect function and relate to differences in joint loading. This systemic approach reveals both the pattern of variability across the skeleton and between taxa, and helps identify those features of trabecular structure that may relate to joint function.

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“…Comparative studies characterizing the microarchitecture of trabecular bone have consistently found that humans have a lower bone volume fraction (BV/TV) than chimpanzees. Whether in the humeral head (Shaw and Ryan, 2012;Scherf et al, 2013), first metacarpal head (Lazenby et al, 2011), thoracic vertebra (Cotter et al, 2011), femoral head (Shaw and Ryan, 2012), calcaneal body (Maga et al, 2006), talar body (DeSilva and Devlin, 2012), or medial metatarsal heads (Griffin et al, 2010), humans consistently possess lower BV/TV than chimpanzees. Under the Achilles tendon insertion, however, we found a trend towards slightly higher BV/TV in humans than in chimpanzees, though this trend was not statistically significant.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Effect of the Achilles Tendon on Trabecular Structure in the Primate Calcaneus

Kuo

DeSilva

Devlin

et al. 2013

The Anatomical Record

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Humans possess the longest Achilles tendon relative to total muscle length of any primate, an anatomy that is beneficial for bipedal locomotion. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of the Achilles tendon has been challenging, in part because soft tissue does not fossilize. The only skeletal evidence for Achilles tendon anatomy in extinct taxa is the insertion site on the calcaneal tuber, which is rarely preserved in the fossil record and, when present, is equivocal for reconstructing tendon morphology. In this study, we used high-resolution three-dimensional microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) to quantify the microstructure of the trabecular bone underlying the Achilles tendon insertion site in baboons, gibbons, chimpanzees, and humans to test the hypothesis that trabecular orientation differs among primates with different tendon morphologies. Surprisingly, despite their very different Achilles tendon lengths, we were unable to find differences between the trabecular properties of chimpanzee and human calcanei in this specific region. There were regional differences within the calcaneus in the degree of anisotropy (DA) in both chimpanzees and humans, though the patterns were similar between the two species (higher DA inferiorly in the calcaneal tuber). Our results suggest that while trabecular bone within the calcaneus varies, it does not respond to the variation of Achilles tendon morphology across taxa in the way we hypothesized. These results imply that internal bone architecture may not be informative for reconstructing Achilles tendon anatomy in early hominins. Anat Rec, 296:1509Rec, 296: -1517Rec, 296: , 2013. V C 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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A comparison of proximal humeral cancellous bone of great apes and humans

Cited by 39 publications

References 66 publications

Trabecular architecture in the humeral metaphyses of non‐avian reptiles (Crocodylia, Squamata and Testudines): Lifestyle, allometry and phylogeny

Trabecular architecture in the humeral metaphyses of non‐avian reptiles (Crocodylia, Squamata and Testudines): Lifestyle, allometry and phylogeny

Systemic patterns of trabecular bone across the human and chimpanzee skeleton

The Effect of the Achilles Tendon on Trabecular Structure in the Primate Calcaneus

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