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Sutural bone frequency in synostotic rabbit crania
Author(s) -
Burrows Annie M.,
Caruso Kelly A.,
Mooney Mark P.,
Smith Tim D.,
Losken H. Wolfgang,
Siegel Michael I.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
american journal of physical anthropology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.146
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1096-8644
pISSN - 0002-9483
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(199704)102:4<555::aid-ajpa9>3.0.co;2-q
Subject(s) - crania , calvaria , coronal plane , anatomy , skull , sagittal plane , frontal bone , biology , biochemistry , in vitro
This study tests the hypothesis that crania with synostosed sutures will have a significantly higher incidence of calvarial sutural bones than normal crania. Sutural bones were counted in seven calvarial sutures and compared among four groups of adult New Zealand white rabbit skulls: normal in‐colony (NI) controls (N = 14), normal out‐colony (NO) controls (N = 12), skulls with familial delayed onset (DO) coronal synostosis (N = 25), and skulls with experimentally immobilized coronal sutures (EI) (N = 20). Comparisons among groups were made with a Kruskal‐Wallis one‐way ANOVA and between groups with a Mann‐Whitney U‐test, using a Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons. Significant differences ( P > 0.05) were noted only in the coronal and sagittal sutures, with EI crania having the greatest number of coronal sutural bones; between group differences were undetectable for sagittal sutural bones. A post hoc two‐sample binomial test for equal proportions showed that the distribution of coronal sutural bones among individuals across groups was even, while the distribution of sagittal sutural bones was significantly higher in EI crania. These results suggest that altered sutural forces of the calvaria contribute to an increased occurrence of sutural bones. However, the influence of inheritance on increased occurrence of sutural bones cannot be discounted, as reflected in the equivalent number of individuals across groups that possessed coronal sutural bones. Am J Phys Anthropol 102:555–563, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.