Dissertation Research: Prevalence & Etiology of Linear Enamel Hypoplasia in Non-Human Primates

线性牙釉质发育不全（LEH）是牙齿牙釉质表面出现一条或多条线的牙齿缺陷。当牙齿形成时，疾病或营养不良会干扰牙釉质的生成，导致LEH缺陷。许多人类学研究使用LEH作为评估人类疾病和/或营养压力水平的工具。然而，关于LEH在非人类灵长类动物种群中的流行程度和原因，我们所知相对较少。本研究解决了有关原猴、猴子和猿中LEH分布和原因的问题。下面的问题是用几个博物馆藏品中的各种物种来检验的：1)牙齿的高度和牙齿形成所需的时间长度对不同灵长类动物LEH模式的变化有影响吗？2)男性和女性受LEH影响的程度是否有差异？如果有，这种差异是否与牙齿的高度和/或形成时间有关？3)圈养，特别是被圈养的过程，对LEH的发生频率有影响吗？4)社会群体中社会地位低是否对LEH发生频率有影响？本研究将有助于对非人类灵长类动物的LEH作为生理应激指标进行评价，并对解决人类LEH的相关问题提供参考。这项研究还将有助于了解非人灵长类动物与各种生活条件相关的压力程度，包括生活在圈养环境或处于从属社会地位的压力。

Lukacs/Guatelli-Steinberg Linear Enamel Hypoplasia (LEH) is a dental defect appearing as one or more lines on a tooth's enamel surface. While a tooth is being formed, disease or poor nutrition can disturb enamel production resulting in LEH defects. Many anthropological studies have used LEH as a tool for assessing levels of disease and/or nutritional stress in human populations. Relatively little is known, however, about the prevalence and causes of LEH in non-human primate populations. This study addresses questions regarding the distribution and causes of LEH in prosimians, monkeys, and apes. The following questions are examined using a variety of species from several museum collections: 1) Does the height of the tooth and the length of time a tooth takes to form have an influence on the variation in LEH patterns across different primate species? 2) Do males and females have differences in the degree to which they are affected by LEH and if so, does the difference relate to the tooth's height and/or its duration of formation? 3) Does captivity, and particularly the process of being transferred into captivity, have an influence on the frequency of LEH? 4) Does low ranking social status in a social group have an influence on the frequency of LEH? The proposed research will help to provide an evaluation of LEH as a physiological stress indicator in non-human primates, and the comparative data will help resolve questions about LEH in humans. This research also will contribute to current knowledge about the degree of stress in nonhuman primates associated with a variety of living conditions, including the stresses of living in captivity or having subordinate social status.