The Anatomical Basis of Human Tongue Biomechanics

描述（由申请人提供）：人类舌头的特殊之处 使它能够完成人类语言所特有的动作， 吞咽？舌头的生物力学取决于它的解剖结构， 人类舌头解剖学的一些最基本的事实是未知的。是 假设人类的舌头包含与舌头相关的特殊解剖结构， 人类语言和吞咽的动作。研究这种解剖学将增加 我们对舌头运动的理解;提供一个规范的基线， 比较病理条件，并提供所需的细节， 包括移植在内的舌外科手术的进展。的 人类的舌头给解剖学家带来了巨大的挑战： 以复杂方式交织的群体在技术上很难追踪;它 通常难以在组织学切片中识别特定肌肉;以及 动物研究中常规使用的许多技术不能用于人体 尸体组织然而，根据研究人类喉部的经验， 提出了一种系统的方法，采用了各种技术， 在前期工作中取得了成功。舌头的解剖结构将同时 在大体解剖学、显微镜和分子水平上使用 方法：1）舌高分辨磁共振显微镜检查 组织来研究三维结构细节; 2）Sihler染色， 使整个舌头标本半透明，同时对抗神经 肌肉群的供应和轮廓; 3）全舌连续切片 然后染色以显示肌肉结构的细节，并插入 结缔组织; 4）肌纤维显微解剖，然后用银和 乙酰胆碱酯酶染色以研究肌纤维大小和形状的细节， 运动终板类型和末端轴突分支; 5）肌原纤维ATP酶， 对每块肌肉的肌纤维进行分型; 6）免疫组织化学，以确定 舌肌肌球蛋白重链（MHC）; 7）免疫电泳 和免疫印迹，以确认免疫组织化学。前期工作已 支持了人类舌头的特殊解剖结构。切塔尔恩 肌肉在大小和位置上与其他肌肉相比有显着差异。 哺乳动物的舌头比如颏舌肌就大大增大了 而下纵向相对较小。此外，人类 舌头肌肉有不寻常的内部结构：有些似乎是 分成串联排列的更小的肌纤维群。在 上级纵肌初步研究表明，这些肌肉 隔室是令人惊讶的短，肌肉纤维是 在复杂的网络中相互连接。总的来说，人类的舌头 慢收缩肌纤维的比例尚未在任何哺乳动物舌头中报道， 它们呈梯度排列，中间的比例较高， 和舌根。在这些慢肌纤维中， 慢强直肌纤维，一种极其罕见的肌纤维类型，具有独特的 收缩性能总之，缺乏关于人类的信息 舌头似乎提供了一个机会，以增加我们的理解， 语言和吞咽的特殊性质以及 吞咽困难和构音障碍。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): What is special about the human tongue that allows it to perform the movements that are unique to human speech and swallowing? The biomechanics of the tongue are dependent on its anatomy, and some of the most basic facts of human tongue anatomy are unknown. It is hypothesized that the human tongue contains specialized anatomy related to the movements of human speech and swallowing. Studying this anatomy will increase our understanding of tongue movements; provide a normative baseline from which to compare pathological conditions, and provide the detail required for progress in surgical procedures on the tongue, including transplantation. The human tongue presents formidable challenges for the anatomist: the small muscle groups that interweave in complex ways are technically difficult to trace; it is often difficult to identify specific muscles in histological sections; and many techniques routinely used in animal studies cannot be used on human post mortem tissue. However, based on experience studying the human larynx, a systematic approach is proposed with a variety of techniques that have all been successfully tested in the preliminary work. Tongue anatomy will simultaneously be studied on the gross anatomical, microscopic and molecular level using the following methods: 1) high-resolution magnetic resonance microscopy of tongue tissue to study 3-D structural detail; 2) Sihler's stain, a process that renders whole tongue specimens translucent while counterstalning the nerve supply and outlines of muscle groups; 3) serial sectioning of whole tongues followed by staining to show details of muscle structure and insertion into connective tissue; 4) micro dissection of muscle fibers followed by silver and acetylcholinesterase staining to study details of muscle fiber size and shape, motor endplate types, and terminal axon branching; 5) myofibrillar ATPase, to type the muscle fibers of each muscle; 6) immunohistochemistry, to identify the myosin heavy chain (MHC) within tongue muscles; and 7) immunoelectrophoresis and immunoblotting, to confirm the immunohistochemistry. Preliminary work has supported the presence of specialized anatomy in the human tongue. Certaln muscles are significantly different in size and position when compared to other mammalian tongues. The genioglossus muscle, for example, is greatly enlarged while the inferior longitudinal is comparatively smaller. In addition, human tongue muscles have unusual internal structure: some appear to be compartmentalized into smaller groups of muscle fibers arranged in series. In the superior longitudinal muscle preliminary work suggests that these muscle compartments are surprisingly short and that the muscle fibers are interconnected in complex webs. Overall, the human tongue has the highest proportion of slow twitch muscle fibers yet reported in any mammalian tongue, and these are arranged in a gradient with the higher proportions found medially and in the tongue base. Among these slow muscle fibers are large numbers of slow tonic muscle fibers, an extremely rare type of muscle fiber with unique contractile properties. In summary, the dearth of information about the human tongue appears to offer an opportunity to increase our understanding of the special nature of speech and swallowing as well as the pathophysiology of dysphagia and dysarthria.