Dissertation Research: Gross Morphology and Bone Density Patterns in the Knees of Catarrhine Primates with Differing Locomotor Behaviors

这个项目考察了猴子、猿猴和人类膝关节骨密度模式的差异，目的是将这种差异与运动和后肢解剖联系起来。据预测，生活在不同栖息地(树居和地面)的灵长类动物，或者适应不同运动模式(例如，四条腿和两条腿)的灵长类动物，将使他们的膝盖承受不同的负荷模式。以前已经确定，关节表面的骨密度模式，基于CT扫描的灰度级模式，与该关节的负荷模式相关。这项技术将被用来创建胫骨上部(胫骨)的骨密度等值线图，试图深入了解灵长类膝关节的不同加载模式。一旦发现运动行为、膝关节解剖和CT密度模式之间的关联，它们将使重建灭绝的运动行为成为可能。通过对人类及其近亲的研究，这项研究还有助于研究人类膝盖现代病理的起源及其潜在的矫正。最后，本文所使用的方法可以适用于对灵长类骨骼中各种关节表面进行类似的研究，从而扩展了我们对运动对关节内力分布的影响的认识。

This project examines differences in the bone density patterns at the knee joint in monkeys, apes, and humans with the goal of correlating such differences with locomotion and hindlimb anatomy. It is predicted that primates living in different habitats (trees-dwelling vs. ground-dwelling), or adapted to different locomotor modes (e.g., four-legged vs. two-legged), will subject their knees to different loading patterns. It has been previously determined that patterns of bone density on a joint surface, based on grey scale patterns in CT scans, are correlated with patterns of loading at that joint. This technique will be used to create bone density contour maps of the upper portion of the tibia (shin bone) in an attempt to gain insight into different loading patterns of the primate knee. Once correlations between locomotor behavior, knee anatomy, and CT density patterns are discovered, they will enable the reconstruction of extinct locomotor behaviors. By examining humans and their closest relatives, this research can also benefit studies on the origin of modern pathologies of the human knee and their potential corrections. Lastly, the methods used here can be adapted for conducting similar studies on a variety of joint surfaces in the primate skeleton, thereby expanding our knowledge of the effects of locomotion on the force distribution in joints.