Craniofacial Biomechanics of Primates

人类及其亲属头部和面部的大小和形状一直是解剖学家和古人类学家研究的一个重要领域。 Hylander小组的方法是表征沿着猴面骨的表面骨应变模式。 然后，结合各种解剖学和生理学数据，应变数据被用来制定和测试不同的假设，在不同的面骨加载模式。 主要目标之一是确定在不同的咀嚼和咬合行为期间给定的骨是否弯曲、扭曲和/或剪切，弯曲、扭曲和/或剪切的程度和方向。 这些数据允许一些洞察是否灵长类动物的脸的某些方面是结构适应消散咀嚼力。 这项工作将有助于解释为什么灵长类动物（包括人类）的面部骨骼看起来是这样的。 这对于人类和非人类灵长类动物化石记录的功能和适应性解释尤为重要。 此外，通过表征面骨的机械环境，这些数据可以提供面骨如何以及为什么响应于各种改变的机械应力的见解，从而有助于更好地理解与骨骼维持机械强度相关的过程。

What accounts for the size and shape of the head and face region of humans and our relatives continues to be a critical area of study for anatomists and paleoanthropologists. The approach of Hylander's group has been to characterize patterns of surface bone strain along the face bones of a monkey. Then, in combination with various sorts of anatomical and physiological data, the strain data are used to formulate and test different hyptheses about loading patterns in various facial bones. One of the primary goals is to determine whether, how much, and in which direction a given bone is bent, twisted and/ or sheared during different chewing and biting behaviors. These data the allow some insight as to whether certain aspects of the primate face are structural adaptations to dissipate chewing forces. This work will help explain why primate (including human) facial bones look the way they do. This is particularly important for formulating functional and adaptive interpretation of the fossil record of both human and nonhuman primates. Moreover, by characterizing the mechanical environment of facial bones, these data may provide insights into how and why facial bones respond to various sorts of altered mechanical stress, and thereby contribute to a better understanding of processes related to skeletal maintenance of mechanical strength.