Endocranial and masticatory muscle volumes in myostatin-deficient mice

Structural and functional trade-offs are integral to the evolution of the mammalian skull and its development. This paper examines the potential for enlargement of the masticatory musculature to limit the size of the endocranial cavity by studying a myostatin-deficient mouse model of hypermuscularity (MSTN−/−). The study tests the null prediction that the larger MSTN−/− mice have larger brains compared with wild-type (WT) mice in order to service the larger muscles. Eleven post-mortem MSTN−/− mice and 12 WT mice were imaged at high resolution using contrast enhanced micro-CT. Masticatory muscle volumes (temporalis, masseter, internal and external pterygoids) and endocranial volumes were measured on the basis of two-dimensional manual tracings and the Cavalieri principle. Volumes were compared using Kruskal–Wallis and Student's t-tests. Results showed that the masticatory muscles of the MSTN−/− mice were significantly larger than in the WT mice. Increases were in the region of 17–36% depending on the muscle. Muscles increased in proportion to each other, maintaining percentages in the region of 5, 10, 21 and 62% of total muscle volume for the external ptyergoid, internal pterygoid, temporalis and masseter, respectively. Kruskal–Wallis and t-tests demonstrated that the endocranial volume was significantly larger in the WT mice, approximately 16% larger on average than that seen in the MSTN−/− mice. This comparative reduction of MSTN−/− endocranial size could not be explained in terms of observer bias, ageing, sexual dimorphism or body size scaling. That the results showed a reduction of brain size associated with an increase of muscle size falsifies the null prediction and lends tentative support to the view that the musculature influences brain growth. It remains to be determined whether the observed effect is primarily physical, nutritional, metabolic or molecular in nature.