An Exploratory Study on the Combined Effects of External and Internal Morphology on Load Dissipation in Primate Capitates: Its Potential for an Understanding of the Positional and Locomotor Repertoire of Early Hominins

Macho, Gabriele A.; Spears, Iain R.; Leakey, Meave G.; McColl, Daniel J.; Jiang, Yong; Abel, R.; Nakatsukasa, Masato; Kunimatsu, Yutaka

doi:10.1159/000322631

Cited by 15 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…This suggestion, based on carpal morphology, has been widely adopted in the human evolution literature (e.g. Le Maître et al, 2017;Macho et al, 2010;Saunders et al, 2016;Schilling et al, 2014;Simpson et al, 2018;Thorpe et al, 2014). The data herein show that the chimpanzee wrist is only slightly extended.…”

Section: Wrist Motionmentioning

confidence: 54%

“…The lack of accurate, 3-D data on knuckle-walking has become particularly apparent in the light of an increasing numbers of studies correlating knuckle-walking with internal hand and wrist bone morphology. Such studies often make predictions that require knowledge of bone and force orientations (Barak et al, 2017;Chirchir et al, 2017;Dunmore et al, 2019;Lazenby et al, 2011;Macho et al, 2010;Matarazzo, 2015;Patel and Carlson, 2007;Tsegai et al, 2013;Zeininger et al, 2011). Without kinematic data, they remain assumptions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, such is the dearth of data that a recent study utilized bony morphology to hypothesize kinematic differences in wrist and metacarpophalangeal joint angles between chimpanzees and gorillas (Kivell and Schmitt, 2009). This hypothetical postural difference has since been relatively well adopted within the literature, and has subsequently been upheld as kinematic evidence of fundamentally different forms of knucklewalking (Le Maître et al, 2017;Macho et al, 2010;Saunders et al, 2016;Schilling et al, 2014;Simpson et al, 2018;Thorpe et al, 2014). The adopting of hypotheses of extant kinematics based on morphology alone illustrates the challenges for functional morphologists when crucial, experimentally derived data on locomotion in extant apes are lacking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The biomechanics of knuckle-walking: 3-D kinematics of the chimpanzee and macaque wrist, hand and fingers

Thompson

2020

Journal of Experimental Biology

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The origin and evolution of knuckle-walking has long been a key focus in understanding African ape, including human, origins. Yet, despite numerous studies documenting morphological characteristics potentially associated with knuckle-walking, little quantitative three-dimensional (3-D) data exist of forelimb motion during knuckle-walking. Nor do any comparative 3-D data exist for hand postures used during quadrupedalism in monkeys. This lack of data has limited the testability of proposed adaptations for knuckle-walking in African apes. This study presents the first 3-D kinematic data of the wrist, hand and metacarpophalangeal joints during knuckle-walking in chimpanzees and in macaques using digitigrade and palmigrade hand postures. These results clarify the unique characteristics of, and commonalities between, knuckle-walking and digitigrady/palmigrady in multiple planes of motion. Notably, chimpanzees utilized more wrist ulnar deviation than any macaque hand posture. Maximum extension of the chimpanzee wrist was slight (5–20 deg) and generally overlapped with macaque digitigrady. Metacarpophalangeal joint motion displayed distinct differences between digits in both species, likely related to the timing of force application. These data also reveal that maximum metacarpophalangeal extension angles during knuckle-walking (26–59 deg) were generally higher than previously considered. In macaques, maximum metacarpophalangeal extension during digitigrady and palmigrady overlapped for most digits, highlighting additional complexity in the interpretation of skeletal features that may be related to limiting metacarpophalangeal motion. Most importantly, however, these new 3-D data serve as a fundamental dataset with which evaluation of proposed musculoskeletal adaptations for knuckle-walking can be tested.

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Section: Wrist Motionmentioning

confidence: 54%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The biomechanics of knuckle-walking: 3-D kinematics of the chimpanzee and macaque wrist, hand and fingers

Thompson

2020

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…However, not only is the carpus not in direct contact with the substrate during locomotion, but also the carpus is an extremely complex anatomical unit, made up of multiple bones and articulations, with numerous ligaments and tendons acting on it (e.g., Taleisnik, ). Thus, dynamic load is dispersed across multiple bones within the carpus and thus loading of any one carpal bone or how this loading might vary across primate taxa is poorly understood (e.g., Viegas et al, ; Macho et al, ; Varga et al, ). The small, irregular shapes of the carpal bones may be susceptible to retaining a particular (perhaps genetically predetermined) structure (e.g., minimum number of trabeculae or a particular trabecular orientation) that is biomechanically required for a carpal bone to withstand loading from multiple directions within a small internal space, and thus are less able to alter this structure in response to load throughout life.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trabecular bone structure in the primate wrist

Schilling

Tofanelli

Hublin

et al. 2013

Journal of Morphology

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Trabecular (or cancellous) bone has been shown to respond to mechanical loading throughout ontogeny and thus can provide unique insight into skeletal function and locomotion in comparative studies of living and fossil mammalian morphology. Trabecular bone of the hand may be particularly functionally informative because the hand has more direct contact with the substrate compared with the remainder of the forelimb during locomotion in quadrupedal mammals. This study investigates the trabecular structure within the wrist across a sample of haplorhine primates that vary in locomotor behaviour (and thus hand use) and body size. High-resolution microtomographic scans were collected of the lunate, scaphoid, and capitate in 41 individuals and eight genera (Homo, Gorilla, Pan, Papio, Pongo, Symphalangus, Hylobates, and Ateles). We predicted that particular trabecular parameters would 1) vary across suspensory, quadrupedal, and bipedal primates based on differences in hand use and load, and 2) scale with carpal size following similar allometric patterns found previously in other skeletal elements across a larger sample of mammals and primates. Analyses of variance (trabecular parameters analysed separately) and principal component analyses (trabecular parameters analysed together) revealed no clear functional signal in the trabecular structure of any of the three wrist bones. Instead, there was a large degree of variation within suspensory and quadrupedal locomotor groups, as well as high intrageneric variation within some taxa, particularly Pongo and Gorilla. However, as predicted, Homo sapiens, which rarely use their hands for locomotion and weight support, were unique in showing lower relative bone volume (BV/TV) compared with all other taxa. Furthermore, parameters used to quantify trabecular structure within the wrist scale with size generally following similar allometric patterns found in trabeculae of other mammalian skeletal elements. We discuss the challenges associated with quantifying and interpreting trabecular bone within the wrist.

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“…The limb bones were scanned at the University of Liverpool (following Macho et al. 2005, Macho et al. 2011; McColl et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of fetal trabecular micro‐architecture in the humerus and femur

Reissis

Abel

2012

Journal of Anatomy

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It is widely accepted that during postnatal development trabecular bone adapts to the prevailing loading environment via modelling. However, very little is known about the mechanisms (whether it is predominantly modelling or remodelling) or controls (such as whether loading influences development) of fetal bone growth. In order to make inferences about these factors, we assessed the pattern of fetal trabecular development in the humerus and femur via histomorphometric parameter quantification. Growth and development (between 4 and 9 months prenatal) of trabecular architecture (i.e. thickness, number and bone volume fraction) was compared across upper and lower limb bones, proximal and distal regions, and sexes. The data presented here indicate that during prenatal development trabeculae became thicker and less numerous, whilst bone volume fraction remained constant. This partly mimics the pattern of early postnatal development (0-2 years) described by other researchers. Thickness was reported to increase whilst number reduced, but bone volume fraction decreased. This is perhaps because the balance of bone modelling (deposition vs. resorption) changes post partum. Published histological data suggest that bone deposition slows after birth, while resorption rates remain constant. Hence, fetal development may be characterized by relatively high rates of modelling and, particularly, bone deposition in comparison to postnatal. With respect to measures of thickness, number and bone volume fraction prenatal development was not bone, site, or sex specific, whilst postnatally these measures of architecture diverge. This is despite reported developmental variation in the frequency, speed and amplitude of fetal movements (which begin after 11 weeks and continue until birth), and probably therefore loading induced by muscular contractions. This may be because prenatal limb bone micro-architecture follows a generalised predetermined growth trajectory (or genetic blueprint), as appears to be the case for gross distribution of trabecular tissue.

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An Exploratory Study on the Combined Effects of External and Internal Morphology on Load Dissipation in Primate Capitates: Its Potential for an Understanding of the Positional and Locomotor Repertoire of Early Hominins

Cited by 15 publications

References 44 publications

The biomechanics of knuckle-walking: 3-D kinematics of the chimpanzee and macaque wrist, hand and fingers

The biomechanics of knuckle-walking: 3-D kinematics of the chimpanzee and macaque wrist, hand and fingers

Trabecular bone structure in the primate wrist

Development of fetal trabecular micro‐architecture in the humerus and femur

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