Morphometric and biomechanical characteristics of the limb skeleton organization of some vertebrates with different locomotion type and limb orientation

Main Article Content

Y. O. Broshko
M. F. Kovtun

Abstract

Some features of the relative changes in the structural and biomechanical properties of stylopodium and zeugopodium elements of limbs' skeleton of reptiles and mammals have been investigated. Morphological and functional adaptations of limbs' skeletal elements in representatives of different classes of terrestrial vertebrates are directly related to limbs orientation and features of locomotion type. This leads to the fact that stylopodium bones of reptiles and mammals are subjected to mechanical loads of different character.

The structural and biomechanical parameters of stylopodium and zeugopodium bones of reptiles’ and mammals’ limbs were investigated. There are bone mass, linear dimensions (length and shaft diameters – frontal and sagittal), parameters of shaft's cross-sectional geometry (cross-sectional area, second and polar moments of inertia, radiuses of inertia). Parameters of cross-sectional geometry allow to establishing a quantitative expression of bone resistance to the loads of certain character: pressure and tension (cross-sectional area), bending (second moments of inertia), torsion (polar moment of inertia).

It has been found that the parameters of stylopodium and zeugopodium bones of representatives of different classes have different character of allometric dependences on body mass. In all cases are noted positive allometry of bone mass and isometry of bone length to body mass. Most parameters of stylopodium elements of reptiles and zeugopodium elements of mammals have positive allometry to body mass. At the same time, the parameters of zeugopodium  bones of reptiles and stylopodium  bones of mammals are varies isometrically relative to body mass. All this testifies to the different character of the mechanical loads on the individual elements of the limbs' skeleton of representatives of different classes, which is associated with a different orientation of limbs (segmental in reptiles, parasagittal in mammals). From this, we can make the following conclusions. The main loads are imposed on stylopodium in reptiles and zeugopodium in mammals. There is a general trend of increasing of mechanical load on the zeugopodium skeleton when the vertebrates’ body mass are increasing. Also noted increase of the mechanical function of the radius compared with the ulna in vertebrates.

Article Details

Section
Статті

References

Богданович И. А. Особенности формы поперечных сечений длинных костей конечности у птиц / И. А. Богданович, В. И. Клыков // Vestnik zoologii. – 2011. – Т. 45. – №3. – С. 283-288.

Клыков В. И. Скелет конечностей некоторых хищных млекопитающих (морфология, пропорции, аллометрия) / В. И. Клыков, К. С. Мусабеков // Материалы по функциональной морфологии скелета конечностей представителей хищных и копытных млекопитающих. – К.: Институт зоологии АН Украины, 1993. – С. 3-26.

Клыков В. И. Некоторые морфо-биомеханические аспекты адаптации скелета конечностей копытных (Ungulata) / В. И. Клыков, К. П. Мельник, В. А. Клыкова // Материалы по функциональной морфологии скелета конечностей представителей хищных и копытных млекопитающих. – К.: Институт зоологии АН Украины, 1993. – С. 26-50.

Мельник К. П. Локомоторный аппарат млекопитающих. Вопросы морфологии и биомеханики скелета / К. П. Мельник, В. И. Клыков. – К.: Наукова думка, 1991. – 208 с.

Шмидт-Ниельсен К. Размеры животных: почему они так важны?: Пер. с англ. / К. Шмидт-Ниельсен. – М.: Мир, 1987. – 259 с.

Alexander R. McN. Allometry of the limbs of antelopes (Bovidae) / R. McN. Alexander // J. Zool., Lond. – 1977. – Vol. 183. – P. 125-146.

Alexander R. McN. Allometry of the limb bones of mammals from shrews (Sorex) to elephant (Loxodonta) / R. McN. Alexander, A.S. Jayes, G. M. O. Maloiy, E. M. Wathuta // J. Zool., Lond. – 1979. – Vol. 189. – P. 305-314.

Blob R. W. Interspecific scaling of the hindlimb skeleton in lizards, crocodilians, felids and canids: does limb bone shape correlate with limb posture? / R. W. Blob // Journal of Zoology, London. – 2000. – Vol. 250. – P. 507-531.

Butcher M. T. In vivo strains in the femur of the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) during terrestrial locomotion: testing hypotheses of evolutionary shifts in mammalian bone loading and design / M. T. Butcher, B. J. White, N. B. Hudzik, W. C. Gosnell, J. H. A. Parrish, R. W. Blob // The Journal of Experimental Biology. – 2011. – Vol. 214. – P. 2631-2640.

Cubo J. The variation of the cross-sectional shape in the long bones of birds and mammals / J. Cubo, A. Casinos // Annales des Sciences Naturelles. – 1998. – Vol. 36, N 1. – P. 51-62.

Gould S. J. Allometry and size in ontogeny and phylogeny / S. J. Gould // Biol. Rev. Cambridge Phill. Soc. – 1966. – Vol. 41, N 4. – P. 587-640.

Jurist J. M. Human ulnar bending stiffness, mineral content, geometry and strength / J. M. Jurist, A. S. Foltz // J. Biomechanics. – 1977. – Vol. 10. – P. 455–459.

McMahon T. A. Size and shape in biology / T. A. McMahon // Science. – 1973. – Vol. 179. – P. 1201-1204.

McMahon T. A. Allometry and biomechanics: limb bones and adult ungulates / T. A. McMahon // Amer. Natur. – 1975. – Vol. 9. – P. 547-563.

Simons E. L. R. Cross sectional geometry of the forelimb skeleton and flight mode in Pelecaniform birds / E. L. R. Simons, T. L. Hieronymus, P. M. O’Connor // Journal of Morphology. – 2011. – Vol. 272. – P. 958-971.