INVESTIGADORES
GONZALEZ paula Natalia
artículos
Título:
Prenatal development of skull and brain in a mouse model of maternal protein undernutrition
Autor/es:
BARBEITO J; HALLGRIMSSON B; GONZALEZ P.
Revista:
Revista Argentina de Antropologia Biologica
Editorial:
Revista Argentina de Antropologia Biologica
Referencias:
Año: 2016
ISSN:
1514-7991
Resumen:
Protein restriction during postnatal development has been linked to altered craniofacial growth. However, its effect on late prenatal stages has been less studied. The aim of this work was to analyze the interactions among morphological traits of the skull and the brain during late prenatal life (18.5 days post conception) in mice exposed to maternal protein undernutrition. Images from the skull and brain were obtained through micro-computed tomography and 3D landmarks coordinates were digitized in order to quantify shape and size of both structures with geometric morphometric techniques. Results highlight a systemic effect of protein restriction on the size of the skull and the brain, which were both significantly reduced in the undernourished group compared to control group. According to multivariate regression analysis, skull shape is partially explained by brain size and patterns of shape variation were only partially coincident with previous reports for other ontogenetic stages, suggesting that allometric trajectories across pre and post-natal ages change their directions. Within the skull, neurocranial and facial shape traits covaried strongly, while subtle covariation was found between the shape of the skull and the brain. These findings are in line with former studies in mutant mice and reveal the relevance of carrying out analyses of phenotypic variation in a broad range of developmental stages. The present study contributes to the basic understanding of the epigenetic relations between growing tissues and has direct implications for the field of paleoanthropology, where inferences about brain morphology are usually derived from skull remains.