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The presence of Wormian bones increases the fracture resistance of equine cranial bone

Wormian (intrasutural) bones are small, irregular bones, that are found in the cranial sutures of the skull. The occurrence of Wormian bones in human skulls has been well documented but few studies have detected the presence of such bones in domestic animals. Although some research has linked the pr...

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Autores principales: Zambrano M., Lilibeth A., Kilroy, David, Kumar, Arun, Gilchrist, Michael D., Ní Annaidh, Aisling
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8051753/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33861736
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249451
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author Zambrano M., Lilibeth A.
Kilroy, David
Kumar, Arun
Gilchrist, Michael D.
Ní Annaidh, Aisling
author_facet Zambrano M., Lilibeth A.
Kilroy, David
Kumar, Arun
Gilchrist, Michael D.
Ní Annaidh, Aisling
author_sort Zambrano M., Lilibeth A.
collection PubMed
description Wormian (intrasutural) bones are small, irregular bones, that are found in the cranial sutures of the skull. The occurrence of Wormian bones in human skulls has been well documented but few studies have detected the presence of such bones in domestic animals. Although some research has linked the presence of Wormian bones to bone pathology, its anatomical significance in healthy individuals is not known. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has examined the biomechanical features of Wormian bone. This study uses microCT imaging of the parietal bone region to determine the frequency of occurrence of Wormian bones in horse skulls and, through 3-point bending tests, to calculate the mechanical differences that result from the presence of such bones. In addition, bone properties such as bone mineral density (BMD) and stiffness were measured and analysed to determine the influence of Wormian bone. Our findings on 54 specimens taken from 10 horses (ages ranging from 4 to 29 years) showed that Wormian bone was present in 70% of subjects and that its occurrence was unrelated to age or sex. 3-point bend tests revealed that the stiffness normalised by cross section area (P = 0.038) was lower in samples where Wormian bone was present. An idealised Finite Element simulation confirmed that the presence of Wormian bone reduced the maximum stress and strain, as well as their distribution throughout the sample. We consequently conclude that the presence of Wormian bones, which are confined to the calvaria, increase the compliance of the bone and reduce the likelihood of skull fracture. As all skull samples were collected from a local abattoir, ethical approval was not required for this work.
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spelling pubmed-80517532021-04-28 The presence of Wormian bones increases the fracture resistance of equine cranial bone Zambrano M., Lilibeth A. Kilroy, David Kumar, Arun Gilchrist, Michael D. Ní Annaidh, Aisling PLoS One Research Article Wormian (intrasutural) bones are small, irregular bones, that are found in the cranial sutures of the skull. The occurrence of Wormian bones in human skulls has been well documented but few studies have detected the presence of such bones in domestic animals. Although some research has linked the presence of Wormian bones to bone pathology, its anatomical significance in healthy individuals is not known. To the best of our knowledge, no previous study has examined the biomechanical features of Wormian bone. This study uses microCT imaging of the parietal bone region to determine the frequency of occurrence of Wormian bones in horse skulls and, through 3-point bending tests, to calculate the mechanical differences that result from the presence of such bones. In addition, bone properties such as bone mineral density (BMD) and stiffness were measured and analysed to determine the influence of Wormian bone. Our findings on 54 specimens taken from 10 horses (ages ranging from 4 to 29 years) showed that Wormian bone was present in 70% of subjects and that its occurrence was unrelated to age or sex. 3-point bend tests revealed that the stiffness normalised by cross section area (P = 0.038) was lower in samples where Wormian bone was present. An idealised Finite Element simulation confirmed that the presence of Wormian bone reduced the maximum stress and strain, as well as their distribution throughout the sample. We consequently conclude that the presence of Wormian bones, which are confined to the calvaria, increase the compliance of the bone and reduce the likelihood of skull fracture. As all skull samples were collected from a local abattoir, ethical approval was not required for this work. Public Library of Science 2021-04-16 /pmc/articles/PMC8051753/ /pubmed/33861736 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249451 Text en © 2021 Zambrano M. 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
Zambrano M., Lilibeth A.
Kilroy, David
Kumar, Arun
Gilchrist, Michael D.
Ní Annaidh, Aisling
The presence of Wormian bones increases the fracture resistance of equine cranial bone
title The presence of Wormian bones increases the fracture resistance of equine cranial bone
title_full The presence of Wormian bones increases the fracture resistance of equine cranial bone
title_fullStr The presence of Wormian bones increases the fracture resistance of equine cranial bone
title_full_unstemmed The presence of Wormian bones increases the fracture resistance of equine cranial bone
title_short The presence of Wormian bones increases the fracture resistance of equine cranial bone
title_sort presence of wormian bones increases the fracture resistance of equine cranial bone
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8051753/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33861736
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0249451
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