The Timing of Physiologic Closure of the Metopic Suture: A Review of 159 Patients Using Reconstructed 3D CT Scans of the Craniofacial Region

Vu, Hugh; Panchal, Jayesh; Parker, Ellen; Levine, Norman; Francel, Paul C.

doi:10.1097/00001665-200111000-00005

Cited by 194 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…RUNX2-related disorders, such as cleidocranial dysplasia, result in delayed MS fusion and pathologies, such as extreme bulging of the forehead and hypertelorism (27). Premature closure of the metopic suture (metopic synostosis), on the other hand, typically results in trigonocephaly: that is, a narrow forehead with an external metopic ridge (keel) extending from glabella to the midforehead, relatively close-set orbits and no lateral browridge (28,29).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metopic suture of Taung ( Australopithecus africanus ) and its implications for hominin brain evolution

Falk

Zollikofer

Morimoto

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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The type specimen for Australopithecus africanus (Taung) includes a natural endocast that reproduces most of the external morphology of the right cerebral hemisphere and a fragment of fossilized face that articulates with the endocast. Despite the fact that Taung died between 3 and 4 y of age, the endocast reproduces a small triangular-shaped remnant of the anterior fontanelle, from which a clear metopic suture (MS) courses rostrally along the midline [Hrdlicka A (1925) Am J Phys Anthropol 8:379-392]. Here we describe and interpret this feature of Taung in light of comparative fossil and actualistic data on the timing of MS closure. In great apes, the MS normally fuses shortly after birth, such that unfused MS similar to Taung's are rare. In humans, however, MS fuses well after birth, and partially or unfused MS are frequent. In gracile fossil adult hominins that lived between ∼3.0 and 1.5 million y ago, MS are also relatively frequent, indicating that the modern human-like pattern of late MS fusion may have become adaptive during early hominin evolution. Selective pressures favoring delayed fusion might have resulted from three aspects of perinatal ontogeny: (i) the difficulty of giving birth to large-headed neonates through birth canals that were reconfigured for bipedalism (the "obstetric dilemma"), (ii) high early postnatal brain growth rates, and (iii) reorganization and expansion of the frontal neocortex. Overall, our data indicate that hominin brain evolution occurred within a complex network of fetopelvic constraints, which required modification of frontal neurocranial ossification patterns.brain size evolution | virtual endocast | fossil hominins | frontal cortex | obstetrics

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Metopic suture of Taung ( Australopithecus africanus ) and its implications for hominin brain evolution

Falk

Zollikofer

Morimoto

et al. 2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…In mice all the cranial vault sutures remain open throughout the lifespan of the animal, except for the posterior frontal suture (PFS), which fuses in a predictable fashion between 21-45 days postnatal (25). In humans the equivalent metopic suture fuses within the first three years postnatal (30,34). Therefore, the mouse PFS serves as a model of post-natal human sutural growth (33).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impaired posterior frontal sutural fusion in the biglycan/decorin double deficient mice

Wadhwa

Ortiz

et al. 2007

Bone

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Biglycan (Bgn) and decorin (Dcn) are highly expressed in numerous tissues in the craniofacial complex. However, their expression and function in the cranial sutures is unknown. In order to study this, we first examined the expression of biglycan and decorin in the posterior frontal suture (PFS), which predictably fuses between 21-45 days post-natal and in the non-fusing sagittal (S) suture from wildtype (Wt) mice. Our data showed that Bgn and Dcn were expressed in both cranial sutures. We then characterized the cranial suture phenotype in Bgn deficient, Dcn deficient, Bgn/Dcn double deficient, and Wt mice. At embryonic day 18.5, alizarin red/ alcian blue staining showed that the Bgn/Dcn double deficient mice had hypomineralization of the frontal and parietal craniofacial bones. Histological analysis of adult mice (45-60 days post natal) showed that the Bgn or Dcn deficient mice had no cranial suture abnormalities and immunohistochemistry staining showed increased production of Dcn in the PFS from Bgn deficient mice. To test possible compensation of Dcn in the Bgn deficient sutures we examined the Bgn/Dcn double deficient mice and found they had impaired fusion of the PFS. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis of RNA from 35 day-old mice revealed increased expression of Bmp-4 and Dlx-5 in the PFS compared to their non-fusing S suture in Wt tissues and decreased expression of Dlx-5 in both PF and S sutures in the Bgn/Dcn double deficient mice compared to the Wt mice. Failure of PFS fusion and hypomineralization of the calvaria in the Bgn/Dcn double deficient mice demonstrate these extracellular matrix proteoglycans could have a role in controlling the formation and growth of the cranial vault.

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“…The metopic suture is the first cranial suture to close at the age of three months (3,10,(15)(16)(17). Weinzweig et al mentioned that normally only the metopic suture fuses during early childhood and all other sutures fuse much later in life (17).…”

Section: █ Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Children with metopic ridge

Hiçdönmez¹

2016

Turkish Neurosurgery

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The Timing of Physiologic Closure of the Metopic Suture: A Review of 159 Patients Using Reconstructed 3D CT Scans of the Craniofacial Region

Cited by 194 publications

References 10 publications

Metopic suture of Taung ( Australopithecus africanus ) and its implications for hominin brain evolution

Metopic suture of Taung ( Australopithecus africanus ) and its implications for hominin brain evolution

Impaired posterior frontal sutural fusion in the biglycan/decorin double deficient mice

Children with metopic ridge

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