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      The biomechanical role of the chondrocranium and sutures in a lizard cranium

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          Abstract

          The role of soft tissues in skull biomechanics remains poorly understood. Not least, the chondrocranium, the portion of the braincase which persists as cartilage with varying degrees of mineralization. It also remains commonplace to overlook the biomechanical role of sutures despite evidence that they alter strain distribution. Here, we examine the role of both the sutures and the chondrocranium in the South American tegu lizard Salvator merianae. We use multi-body dynamics analysis (MDA) to provide realistic loading conditions for anterior and posterior unilateral biting and a detailed finite element model to examine strain magnitude and distribution. We find that strains within the chondrocranium are greatest during anterior biting and are primarily tensile; also that strain within the cranium is not greatly reduced by the presence of the chondrocranium unless it is given the same material properties as bone. This result contradicts previous suggestions that the anterior portion (the nasal septum) acts as a supporting structure. Inclusion of sutures to the cranium model not only increases overall strain magnitudes but also leads to a more complex distribution of tension and compression rather than that of a beam under sagittal bending.

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          ParaView: An End-User Tool for Large-Data Visualization

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            Finite Element Analysis and Understanding the Biomechanics and Evolution of Living and Fossil Organisms

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              Cranial sutures as intramembranous bone growth sites.

              Intramembranous bone growth is achieved through bone formation within a periosteum or by bone formation at sutures. Sutures are formed during embryonic development at the sites of approximation of the membranous bones of the craniofacial skeleton. They serve as the major sites of bone expansion during postnatal craniofacial growth. For sutures to function as intramembranous bone growth sites, they need to remain in an unossified state, yet allow new bone to be formed at the edges of the overlapping bone fronts. This process relies on the production of sufficient new bone cells to be recruited into the bone fronts, while ensuring that the cells within the suture remain undifferentiated. Unlike endochondral growth plates, which expand through chondrocyte hypertrophy, sutures do not have intrinsic growth potential. Rather, they produce new bone at the sutural edges of the bone fronts in response to external stimuli, such as signals arising from the expanding neurocranium. This process allows growth of the cranial vault to be coordinated with growth of the neurocranium. Too little or delayed bone growth will result in wide-open fontanels and suture agenesis, whereas too much or accelerated bone growth will result in osseous obliteration of the sutures or craniosynostosis. Craniosynostosis in humans, suture fusion in animals, and induced suture obliteration in vitro has been associated with mutations or alterations in expression of several transcription factors, growth factors, and their receptors. Much of the data concerning signaling within sutures has been garnered from research on cranial sutures; hence, only the cranial sutures will be discussed in detail in this review. This review synthesizes classic descriptions of suture growth and pathology with modern molecular analysis of genetics and cell function in normal and abnormal suture morphogenesis and growth in a unifying hypothesis. At the same time, the reader is reminded of the importance of the suture as an intramembranous bone growth site. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                J R Soc Interface
                J R Soc Interface
                RSIF
                royinterface
                Journal of the Royal Society Interface
                The Royal Society
                1742-5689
                1742-5662
                December 2017
                20 December 2017
                20 December 2017
                : 14
                : 137
                : 20170637
                Affiliations
                [1 ]School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide , North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia
                [2 ]South Australian Museum , North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia
                [3 ]School of Medicine, Medical Sciences and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen , Aberdeen AB25 2ZD, UK
                [4 ]School of Engineering and Computer Science, Medical and Biological Engineering Research Group, University of Hull , Hull HU6 7RX, UK
                [5 ]Research Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, UCL, University College London , Anatomy Building, Gower Street, London WCIE 6BT, UK
                Author notes

                Electronic supplementary material is available online at https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3948475.

                Author information
                http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0146-9623
                http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5117-5335
                Article
                rsif20170637
                10.1098/rsif.2017.0637
                5746569
                29263126
                7b3a7b61-d359-4e3c-a46d-a50f71364c07
                © 2017 The Authors.

                Published by the Royal Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, provided the original author and source are credited.

                History
                : 31 August 2017
                : 28 November 2017
                Funding
                Funded by: Australian Research Council, http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000923;
                Award ID: DE130101567
                Funded by: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000268;
                Award ID: BB/H011390/1
                Award ID: BB/H011668/1
                Award ID: BB/H011854/1
                Award ID: BB/M008061/1
                Award ID: BB/M008525/1
                Award ID: BB/M010287/1
                Categories
                1004
                25
                23
                Life Sciences–Engineering interface
                Research Article
                Custom metadata
                December, 2017

                Life sciences
                chondrocranium,finite element analysis,skull,sutures,septum,cartilage
                Life sciences
                chondrocranium, finite element analysis, skull, sutures, septum, cartilage

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