Predicting primate tongue morphology based on geometrical skull matching. A first step towards an application on fossil hominins

by Pablo Alvarez, Marouane El Mouss, Maxime Calka, Anca Belme, Gilles Berillon, Pauline Brige, Yohan Payan, Pascal Perrier, Am élie Vialet

As part of a long-term research project aiming at generating a biomechanical model of a fossil human tongue from a carefully designed 3D Finite Element mesh of a living human tongue, we present a computer-based method that optimally registers 3D CT images of the head and neck of the living human into similar images of another primate. We quantitatively evaluate the method on a baboon. The method generates a geometric deformation field which is used to build up a 3D Finite Element mesh of the baboon tongue. In order to assess the method ’s ability to generate a realistic tongue from bony structure information alone, as would be the case for fossil humans, its performance is evaluated and compared under two conditions in which different anatomical information is available: (1) combined information from soft-tissue and bony structu res; (2) information from bony structures alone. AnUncertainty Quantification method is used to evaluate the sensitivity of the transformation to two crucial parameters, namely the resolution of the transformation grid and the weight of a smoothness constraint applied to the transformation, and to determine the best possible meshes. In both conditions the baboon tongue morphology is realistically predicted, evidencing that bony structures alone provide enough relevant information to generate soft tissues.

Source: PLoS Computational Biology - January 22, 2024 Category: Biology Authors: Pablo Alvarez Source Type: research