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A. Casado1 , JM. Potau1, M.Gómez1, F. de Paz2, M. Barbosa2, JF. Pastor
1Unit of Human Anatomy and Embryology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
2Department of Anatomy and Radiology, University of Valladolid, Valladolid, Spain.
Contact email: aroa.casado@ub.edu
Significant differences were observed in the morphology components of lunate and
scaphoid articular surfaces. The partial least-squares analysis within a landmark
configuration (PLS) shows a correlation value of 0.91, which explains a total covariation
of the 67.55 %. This implies a high correlation between the two blocks of landmarks
studied. The RV coefficient evaluation of the two established modules presents a value of
Rv = 0.6. This result shows a high degree of covariation between the studied modules.
This shows that there is no modular division. Based on the results obtained, the articular
carpal facies are integrated with each other. This morphological integration probably
arises because the anatomical functionality of the facies articularis carpalis is related in
all species studied. Even so, the analysis of main components performed on the analysis
of modularity shows that there are significant differences, which explain a variance of
27.49%, between the group of humans and the rest of primates. These results suggest
that the mentioned anatomical differences are probably related to the forms of
locomotion of the different primate species, clearly discriminating the different forms of
locomotion between the human from the rest of primates species..
The analysis is characterized by a fourteen landmark configuration of 3D-scans from extant
primates, using generalized least-square Procrustes superimposition and RV coefficient of
Escoufier in MorphoJ. A total of 62 distal radius were studied: Homo sapiens (N= 31) coming
from the Unit of Human Anatomy and Embryology of the University of Barcelona, Pan
troglodytes (N= 20), Pongo pygmaeus (N= 5) and Gorilla gorilla (N= 6) coming from the
Museum of Anatomy of the University of Valladolid.
In this study, we analyze the integration and modularity between the facies articularis
carpalis for the articulation of the lunate and scaphoid bones.The concepts of integration and
modularity refer to the degree of covariation between the components of a structure, in this
case articular insertion facies. It is understood as a morphological integration the coordinated
variation of the components of a functional whole, while modularity is described as a strong
covariation between two structures which in turn are relatively independent of other modules.
Historically the articular face of the radius has been described as if it were a compact unit.
However, several current studies on the articular insertion faces of the radius in reference to
the carpal region suggest that the articular facet of the scaphoid and the articular facet of the
lunate have different morphological patterns. Fig 1. Human distal radius: articular surface of lunate is indicated in grey and articular surfaces of scaphoid in orange
Fig 2. On the left we can observe the radius of a homo sapiens and on the right that of a chimpanzee, in yellow we find the
area corresponding to the module represented by the facies articularis carpalis
Fig 3. PCA analysis of the facies articularis carpalis shape, PC1 vs PC2 scatterplot showing shape changes at the
end of both axes which can be seen in the wireframes at the top
Fig 4. Modularity analysis of the facies articularis carpalis shape of primates
This study was supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (project CGL2014-52611-C2-2-P) and by the European Union (FEDER)