The biomechanics of chewing and suckling in the infant: A potential mechanism for physiologic metopic suture closure.
Pranav N. Haravu, Miguel Gonzalez, Shelby L. Nathan, Callum F. Ross, Olga Panagiotopoulou, Russell R. Reid
Macaca mulatta is a good model for human mandibular fixation research
This paper is a product of our collaborations with Dr. Russell Reid MD, PhD at University of Chicago, Olga Pangiotopoulou, PhD at Monash. Two Pritzker School of Medical Medicine students worked on this paper, with Pranav Haravu leading the charge. Thanks to all involved.
Thanks to Craig Byron for leading the charge on this great paper reporting in vivo bone strain from multiple sites across the sagittal suture in capuchins. These are important data on the variation in strain along the suture and across different behaviors.
Sagittal suture strain in capuchin monkeys (Sapajus and Cebus) during feeding
Craig Byron | David Reed | Jose Iriarte-Diaz | Qian Wang | David Strait | Myra F. Laird | Callum F. Ross
The Ross Lab has a long-standing interest in the evolutionary biomechanics of non-mammalian vertebrates, especially crocodylians and lepidosaurs.
The Ross Lab is working closely with the Luo Lab to better understand the evolution of the mammalian mandible. We are using the opossum feeding system as a tool for understanding how best to model transformations of mandible form in early mammals. Kelsey Stilson is studying the role of periodontal afferents in control of 3d jaw movements during chewing in opossums. Alec Wilken is studying loading and strain regimes in the mandibles of opossums and early mammals.
We are working with Olga Panagiotopoulou at Monash University on finite element modeling of the mandible of Macaca during feeding and with Felippe Prado’s team at UNICAMP in Brazil of FEM of the mandible of Sapajus.
The Ross Lab has a long standing interest in craniofacial function during feeding in primates. Experimental studies are informing studies of muscle architecture dynamics and sagittal suture function in capuchins.
Field studies of wild capuchins in Brazil and Suriname (with Barth Wright, Kristin Wright and David Strait) have yielded important data on relationships between feeding behavior, food mechanical properties, and feeding posture. This important work continues with ontogenetic studies of capuchin feeding behavior under Myra Laird, Claire Terhune, Janine Chalk-Wilayto, and Megan Holmes.
Our lab is working with Dr. Russell Reid in the Department of Surgery and with the Panagiotopoulou Lab at Monash University, and Drs. Felippe Prado, Ana Claudia Rossi and Alexandre Freire at UNICAMP in Brazil to improve treatment of disorders affecting human craniofacial skeletons. To improve treatment of mandible fractures, Panagiotopoulou is using validated finite element models to estimate the strain regimes in the fracture zone and around the implants to determine which fracture repair method–Champy or biplanar–is most effective. We are working with Drs. Prado, Rossi and Freire on FEM of distraction osteogenesis in infants with hypoplastic mandibles. We have also shown how the concept of “facial pillars” in the human clinical literature is not supported by morphological evidence, but does describe skeletal function during chewing.
