Application of neuroscience methods to the comparison of the link between brain and endocranium in Ursidae
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1The study of the brain morphology combined with different methods derived from the neuroscientific field, provides unique information about comparative anatomy, function, taxonomy and phylogeny, among others. In the fossil record, the soft tissues are not preserved, so virtual models obtained from the imprints left by the brain on the intracranial surface, called endocast, are the key to study the brain. Recent studies have tested in humans if the endocast reflects the morphology of the brain, however, it has never been checked whether this methodology works in other groups. The aim of this study is to optimize the method to compare the brain details and their related imprints on the endocast for the study of different groups. The general perspective is to have a better understanding of the endocast morphology. Carnivores are a key group to investigate this as their endocasts show a great amount of details, however the correspondence with the brain has not yet been considered. We analyzed a sample of four bears of Ursus arctos horribilis (grizzly bear), Ursus americanus (American black bear), Ursus ursinus (sloth bear) and Ailuropoda melanoleuca (panda bear) that during the dissection the brain had been removed. From each individual, we obtained an MRI of the brain, which allows to generate a sequence of images that were segmented to obtain a 3D model using Reorient and BrainBox. Also, we scanned the internal surface of each cranium using StereoScan AICON-ST2026 and Geomagic to get a virtual endocast. To test their correspondence, we located the principal sulci and compared their position in the brain and endocast of the same individual. We used classical comparative morphology, morphometric and geometric morphometrics, including diffeomorphism. Our results show that bears display a greater expression of the relation between brain morphology and the endocranial cast compared to primates, including hominins.
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Mónica Villalba de Alvarado, Katjia Heuer, Marc Herbin, Mathieu Santin, Roberto Toro, Andréa Filippo et Antoine Balzeau, « Application of neuroscience methods to the comparison of the link between brain and endocranium in Ursidae », Bulletins et mémoires de la Société d’Anthropologie de Paris [En ligne], 36(S) | 2024, mis en ligne le 23 décembre 2023, consulté le 27 mars 2025. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/bmsap/13744 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/bmsap.13744
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