Computational biomechanical modelling of the rabbit cranium during mastication

Peter J.  Watson; Alana  Sharp; Tarun  Choudhary; Michael J Fagan; Hugo  Dutel; Susan E. Evans; Flora Gröning

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-92558-5

Computational biomechanical modelling of the rabbit cranium during mastication

Peter J. Watson^* (Corresponding Author), Alana Sharp, Tarun Choudhary, Michael J Fagan, Hugo Dutel, Susan E. Evans, Flora Gröning

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Although a functional relationship between bone structure and mastication has been shown in some regions of the rabbit skull, the biomechanics of the whole cranium during mastication has yet to be fully explored. In terms of cranial biomechanics, the rabbit is a particularly interesting species due to its uniquely fenestrated rostrum and its debated mechanical function. In addition, the rabbit
processes food through incisor and molar biting within a single bite cycle, and the potential influence of these bite modes on skull biomechanics remains unknown. This study combined the in silico methods of multi-body dynamics and finite element analysis to compute musculoskeletal forces associated with a range of incisor and molar biting, and predict the associated strains. The results
show that the majority of the cranium, including the fenestrated rostrum, transmits masticatory strains. The peak strains generated over all bites were found to be attributed to both incisor and molar biting. This could be a consequence of a skull shape adapted to promote an even strain distribution for a combination of infrequent incisor bites and cyclic molar bites. However, some
regions, such as the supraorbital process, experienced low peak strain for all masticatory loads considered, suggesting such regions are not designed to resist masticatory forces

Original language	English
Article number	13196
Number of pages	11
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	11
Early online date	23 Jun 2021
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92558-5
Publication status	Published - Jun 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding statement
We thank the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) who provided funding for this research (BB/I008462/1; BB/M008525/1; BB/M010287/1; BB/M008061/1).

Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the Viper High Performance Computing facility of the University of Hull and its support team for their help and assistance in running the FE analyses.

Keywords

biomedical engineering
computational models
Musculosketal system

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Cite this

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title = "Computational biomechanical modelling of the rabbit cranium during mastication",

abstract = "Although a functional relationship between bone structure and mastication has been shown in some regions of the rabbit skull, the biomechanics of the whole cranium during mastication has yet to be fully explored. In terms of cranial biomechanics, the rabbit is a particularly interesting species due to its uniquely fenestrated rostrum and its debated mechanical function. In addition, the rabbitprocesses food through incisor and molar biting within a single bite cycle, and the potential influence of these bite modes on skull biomechanics remains unknown. This study combined the in silico methods of multi-body dynamics and finite element analysis to compute musculoskeletal forces associated with a range of incisor and molar biting, and predict the associated strains. The resultsshow that the majority of the cranium, including the fenestrated rostrum, transmits masticatory strains. The peak strains generated over all bites were found to be attributed to both incisor and molar biting. This could be a consequence of a skull shape adapted to promote an even strain distribution for a combination of infrequent incisor bites and cyclic molar bites. However, someregions, such as the supraorbital process, experienced low peak strain for all masticatory loads considered, suggesting such regions are not designed to resist masticatory forces",

keywords = "biomedical engineering, computational models, Musculosketal system",

author = "Watson, {Peter J.} and Alana Sharp and Tarun Choudhary and Fagan, {Michael J} and Hugo Dutel and Evans, {Susan E.} and Flora Gr{\"o}ning",

note = "Funding statement We thank the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) who provided funding for this research (BB/I008462/1; BB/M008525/1; BB/M010287/1; BB/M008061/1). Acknowledgement We acknowledge the Viper High Performance Computing facility of the University of Hull and its support team for their help and assistance in running the FE analyses.",

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AU - Sharp, Alana

AU - Choudhary, Tarun

AU - Fagan, Michael J

AU - Dutel, Hugo

AU - Evans, Susan E.

AU - Gröning, Flora

N1 - Funding statement We thank the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) who provided funding for this research (BB/I008462/1; BB/M008525/1; BB/M010287/1; BB/M008061/1). Acknowledgement We acknowledge the Viper High Performance Computing facility of the University of Hull and its support team for their help and assistance in running the FE analyses.

PY - 2021/6

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N2 - Although a functional relationship between bone structure and mastication has been shown in some regions of the rabbit skull, the biomechanics of the whole cranium during mastication has yet to be fully explored. In terms of cranial biomechanics, the rabbit is a particularly interesting species due to its uniquely fenestrated rostrum and its debated mechanical function. In addition, the rabbitprocesses food through incisor and molar biting within a single bite cycle, and the potential influence of these bite modes on skull biomechanics remains unknown. This study combined the in silico methods of multi-body dynamics and finite element analysis to compute musculoskeletal forces associated with a range of incisor and molar biting, and predict the associated strains. The resultsshow that the majority of the cranium, including the fenestrated rostrum, transmits masticatory strains. The peak strains generated over all bites were found to be attributed to both incisor and molar biting. This could be a consequence of a skull shape adapted to promote an even strain distribution for a combination of infrequent incisor bites and cyclic molar bites. However, someregions, such as the supraorbital process, experienced low peak strain for all masticatory loads considered, suggesting such regions are not designed to resist masticatory forces

AB - Although a functional relationship between bone structure and mastication has been shown in some regions of the rabbit skull, the biomechanics of the whole cranium during mastication has yet to be fully explored. In terms of cranial biomechanics, the rabbit is a particularly interesting species due to its uniquely fenestrated rostrum and its debated mechanical function. In addition, the rabbitprocesses food through incisor and molar biting within a single bite cycle, and the potential influence of these bite modes on skull biomechanics remains unknown. This study combined the in silico methods of multi-body dynamics and finite element analysis to compute musculoskeletal forces associated with a range of incisor and molar biting, and predict the associated strains. The resultsshow that the majority of the cranium, including the fenestrated rostrum, transmits masticatory strains. The peak strains generated over all bites were found to be attributed to both incisor and molar biting. This could be a consequence of a skull shape adapted to promote an even strain distribution for a combination of infrequent incisor bites and cyclic molar bites. However, someregions, such as the supraorbital process, experienced low peak strain for all masticatory loads considered, suggesting such regions are not designed to resist masticatory forces

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KW - Musculosketal system

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DO - 10.1038/s41598-021-92558-5

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VL - 11

JO - Scientific Reports

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Computational biomechanical modelling of the rabbit cranium during mastication

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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