Cargando…

Existence and features of the myodural bridge in Gentoo penguins: A morphological study

Recent studies have evidenced that the anatomical structure now known as the myodural bridge (MDB) connects the suboccipital musculature to the cervical spinal dura mater (SDM). In humans, the MDB passes through both the posterior atlanto-occipital and the posterior atlanto-axial interspaces. The ex...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Chen, Cheng, Yu, Sheng-bo, Chi, Yan-yan, Tan, Guang-yuan, Yan, Bao-cheng, Zheng, Nan, Sui, Hong-Jin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8031436/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33831002
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244774
_version_ 1783676164718460928
author Chen, Cheng
Yu, Sheng-bo
Chi, Yan-yan
Tan, Guang-yuan
Yan, Bao-cheng
Zheng, Nan
Sui, Hong-Jin
author_facet Chen, Cheng
Yu, Sheng-bo
Chi, Yan-yan
Tan, Guang-yuan
Yan, Bao-cheng
Zheng, Nan
Sui, Hong-Jin
author_sort Chen, Cheng
collection PubMed
description Recent studies have evidenced that the anatomical structure now known as the myodural bridge (MDB) connects the suboccipital musculature to the cervical spinal dura mater (SDM). In humans, the MDB passes through both the posterior atlanto-occipital and the posterior atlanto-axial interspaces. The existence of the MDB in various mammals, including flying birds (Rock pigeons and Gallus domesticus) has been previously validated. Gentoo penguins are marine birds, able to make 450 dives per day, reaching depths of up to 660 feet. While foraging, this penguin is able to reach speeds of up to 22 miles per hour. Gentoo penguins are also the world’s fastest diving birds. The present study was therefore carried out to investigate the existence and characteristics of the MDB in Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua), a non-flying, marine bird that can dive. For this study, six Gentoo penguin specimens were dissected to observe the existence and composition of their MDB. Histological staining was also performed to analyze the anatomic relationships and characteristic of the MDB in the Gentoo penguin. In this study, it was found that the suboccipital musculature in the Gentoo penguin consists of the rectus capitis dorsalis minor (RCDmi) muscle and rectus capitis dorsalis major (RCDma) muscle. Dense connective tissue fibers were observed connecting these two suboccipital muscles to the spinal dura mater (SDM). This dense connective tissue bridge consists of primarily type I collagen fibers. Thus, this penguin’s MDB appears to be analogous to the MDB previously observed in humans. The present study evidences that the MDB not only exists in penguins but it also has unique features that distinguishes it from that of flying birds. Thus, this study advances the understanding of the morphological characteristics of the MDB in flightless, marine birds.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8031436
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-80314362021-04-14 Existence and features of the myodural bridge in Gentoo penguins: A morphological study Chen, Cheng Yu, Sheng-bo Chi, Yan-yan Tan, Guang-yuan Yan, Bao-cheng Zheng, Nan Sui, Hong-Jin PLoS One Research Article Recent studies have evidenced that the anatomical structure now known as the myodural bridge (MDB) connects the suboccipital musculature to the cervical spinal dura mater (SDM). In humans, the MDB passes through both the posterior atlanto-occipital and the posterior atlanto-axial interspaces. The existence of the MDB in various mammals, including flying birds (Rock pigeons and Gallus domesticus) has been previously validated. Gentoo penguins are marine birds, able to make 450 dives per day, reaching depths of up to 660 feet. While foraging, this penguin is able to reach speeds of up to 22 miles per hour. Gentoo penguins are also the world’s fastest diving birds. The present study was therefore carried out to investigate the existence and characteristics of the MDB in Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua), a non-flying, marine bird that can dive. For this study, six Gentoo penguin specimens were dissected to observe the existence and composition of their MDB. Histological staining was also performed to analyze the anatomic relationships and characteristic of the MDB in the Gentoo penguin. In this study, it was found that the suboccipital musculature in the Gentoo penguin consists of the rectus capitis dorsalis minor (RCDmi) muscle and rectus capitis dorsalis major (RCDma) muscle. Dense connective tissue fibers were observed connecting these two suboccipital muscles to the spinal dura mater (SDM). This dense connective tissue bridge consists of primarily type I collagen fibers. Thus, this penguin’s MDB appears to be analogous to the MDB previously observed in humans. The present study evidences that the MDB not only exists in penguins but it also has unique features that distinguishes it from that of flying birds. Thus, this study advances the understanding of the morphological characteristics of the MDB in flightless, marine birds. Public Library of Science 2021-04-08 /pmc/articles/PMC8031436/ /pubmed/33831002 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244774 Text en © 2021 Chen et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Chen, Cheng
Yu, Sheng-bo
Chi, Yan-yan
Tan, Guang-yuan
Yan, Bao-cheng
Zheng, Nan
Sui, Hong-Jin
Existence and features of the myodural bridge in Gentoo penguins: A morphological study
title Existence and features of the myodural bridge in Gentoo penguins: A morphological study
title_full Existence and features of the myodural bridge in Gentoo penguins: A morphological study
title_fullStr Existence and features of the myodural bridge in Gentoo penguins: A morphological study
title_full_unstemmed Existence and features of the myodural bridge in Gentoo penguins: A morphological study
title_short Existence and features of the myodural bridge in Gentoo penguins: A morphological study
title_sort existence and features of the myodural bridge in gentoo penguins: a morphological study
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8031436/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33831002
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0244774
work_keys_str_mv AT chencheng existenceandfeaturesofthemyoduralbridgeingentoopenguinsamorphologicalstudy
AT yushengbo existenceandfeaturesofthemyoduralbridgeingentoopenguinsamorphologicalstudy
AT chiyanyan existenceandfeaturesofthemyoduralbridgeingentoopenguinsamorphologicalstudy
AT tanguangyuan existenceandfeaturesofthemyoduralbridgeingentoopenguinsamorphologicalstudy
AT yanbaocheng existenceandfeaturesofthemyoduralbridgeingentoopenguinsamorphologicalstudy
AT zhengnan existenceandfeaturesofthemyoduralbridgeingentoopenguinsamorphologicalstudy
AT suihongjin existenceandfeaturesofthemyoduralbridgeingentoopenguinsamorphologicalstudy