Doctoral Dissertation Research: Musculoskeletal Craniofacial Evolution and Developmental Plasticity

博士论文研究：肌肉骨骼颅面进化与发育可塑性

• 批准号: 2236027
• 负责人: Rachel Menegaz
• 金额: $ 2.96万
• 依托单位: University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-04-01 至 2025-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236027&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Musculoskeletal; Craniofacial

This doctoral dissertation research project examines the effects of early weaning on the evolution of the muscles and skeletal tissue in the developing craniofacial complex. The modern human craniofacial complex has evolved to become smaller, with shorter midface and globular brain shape, characteristics linked to changes in diet and chewing. Previous investigations of this topic using bone in comparative and fossil materials have methodological limitations. Here, a novel combination of state-of-the-art imaging methods is used to analyze changes in bone and soft tissues during craniofacial development. The research has the potential to inform public health research on early life development. The project fosters student training and mentoring in STEM, and resulting data are disseminated through publications, presentations, and publicly available imaging databases. The project uses a gracilized comparative model to examine the influence of early and typical weaning on musculoskeletal craniofacial development. The specific aims of this project are to characterize the effects of (1) craniofacial gracilization and (2) early weaning on musculoskeletal performance, integration, and symmetry during the stages of oral motor skill development in early life. Previous research has focused on changes in skeletal tissue, primarily due to limitations in what is visible in a standard CT and what is preserved in the fossil record. A novel combination of contrast enhanced micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) methods is used in this project to analyze ontogenetic series of bone, muscle, and cartilage. This multilevel research design incorporates evolutionary, behavioral, morphological, and functional theories, allowing greater understanding of the impact of function and tissue interactions on the musculoskeletal development in the craniofacial complex. Furthermore, this project can improve our understanding of the form-function interrelationships in the craniofacial complex during highly plastic early life stages, with implications for behavioral adaptations and growth trajectories during human evolution.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该博士论文研究项目研究了发育中颅面复合物中肌肉和骨骼组织进化的早期断奶的影响。现代的人类颅面复合物已演变为较小，中间较短和球状脑形状，与饮食和咀嚼变化有关的特征。先前在比较和化石材料中使用骨头对该主题的研究具有方法论上的局限性。在这里，最先进的成像方法的新型组合用于分析颅面发育过程中骨骼和软组织的变化。该研究有可能为公共卫生研究提供有关早期生命发展的研究。该项目促进了STEM中的学生培训和指导，并通过出版物，演示文稿和公开成像数据库进行传播。该项目使用一个刻薄的比较模型来检查早期和典型断奶对肌肉骨骼颅面发育的影响。该项目的具体目的是表征（1）（1）颅面斑点和（2）早期口服运动技能阶段期间对肌肉骨骼表现，整合和对称性的影响。先前的研究集中在骨骼组织的变化上，这主要是由于标准CT中可见的局限性以及化石记录中保留的内容的局限性。对比度增强的微型层析成像（Micro-CT）方法的新型组合在该项目中用于分析个体发生的骨骼，肌肉和软骨。这种多级研究设计结合了进化，行为，形态和功能理论，从而使对功能和组织相互作用对颅面复合物中肌肉骨骼发育的影响有了更多的了解。此外，该项目可以提高我们对高度塑料早期阶段中颅面复合物中形式的相互关系的理解，对人类进化过程中的行为适应和成长轨迹的影响。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并认为通过基金会的知识优点和广泛的范围来评估，通过评估值得通过评估来进行评估。