Relationship between trunk posture and the limb joint mechanics dining the primate locomotion

分析了日本猕猴水平四足行走时肢体运动模式与躯干姿势的关系。为了评价综合运动模式，分析了关节偏移量所确定的整个肢体的长度。计算整个躯干在三维空间中的角度，并研究其与肢体长度的关系。一系列实验揭示了这两个参数之间的关系。在实验中发现了另外三个研究问题，第一个问题涉及肢体关节偏移的实际限制。我们发展了一种评估身体关节活动范围的方法。然后将该方法应用于七种灵长类动物的膝关节旋转，探讨灵长类膝关节结构的运动适应问题。第二个问题涉及作用于四肢关节的肌肉的本体感觉属性。如果躯干姿势是由肢体状况控制的，采集关节姿势信息是很重要的。为了实现这一需求，肌肉纺锤体将发挥关键作用。因此，我们测试了原肩关节肌的组织学特征。结果表明，肌梭的分布较好地反映了物种特有的运动方式。第三个也是最后一个问题与实验环境的结构有关。水平走道，这是在传统的实验环境中使用的。为课题提供持续的支持。然而，树栖灵长类动物习惯于使用不连续的树枝支撑。因此，我们计划测试水平梯形支撑作为更适合生态的实验环境。实验动物可以在上面进行运动行为。然后，我们收集了日本猕猴、灵长类动物的水平四足行走数据。

The analysis of the relationship between the limb motion pattern and the trunk posture during horizontal quadrupedal walking of the Japanese macaque was performed. In order to evaluate comprehensive motor pattern, the lengths of whole limbs, which were determined by the excursions of the joint, were analyzed. The angles of the whole trunk in the three dimensional space were calculated and investigated against the limb length. A series of the experiment revealed the relationship of both parameters. Three additional research problems were found during the experiment, First problem concerns to the actual limit of the limb joint excursion. We developed the method to evaluate the range of the joint excursion in cadaver. Then we adopted this method to the knee joint rotation in seven primate species, and we could discuss on the locomotor adaptation of the knee joint structure in primates. Second problem concerns to the proprioceptive attributes of the muscles acting to the limb joints. If the trunk posture was controlled by limb conditions, it is important to gather the information of the joint posture. To achieve this demand, the muscles spindle would play a critical roll. Thus we tested the histological characteristics of the prosimian shoulder joint muscles. The results suggested the distribution of the muscle spindle would well reflect the species-specific mode of locomotion. The third and last problem concerns to the structure of the experimental setting. The horizontal walkway, which was used in traditional experimental setting. supplies the continuous support to the subject. However, the arboreal primates used to utilized the discontinuous branch support. Thus we planed to test the horizontal ladder-like support as the more ecologically appropriate experimental setting. The experimental animals could perform the locomotor behavior on it. Then we collected the data of the horizontal quadrupedal walking of the Japanese macaques, Primates.