Ontogenetic Shape Change in the Chicken Brain: Implications for Paleontology.

Paleontologists have investigated brain morphology of extinct birds with little information on post-hatching changes in avian brain morphology. Without the knowledge of ontogenesis, assessing brain morphology in fossil taxa could lead to misinterpretation of the phylogeny or neurosensory development...

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Main Authors: Soichiro Kawabe, Seiji Matsuda, Naoki Tsunekawa, Hideki Endo
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2015-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4460028?pdf=render
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author Soichiro Kawabe
Seiji Matsuda
Naoki Tsunekawa
Hideki Endo
author_facet Soichiro Kawabe
Seiji Matsuda
Naoki Tsunekawa
Hideki Endo
author_sort Soichiro Kawabe
collection DOAJ
description Paleontologists have investigated brain morphology of extinct birds with little information on post-hatching changes in avian brain morphology. Without the knowledge of ontogenesis, assessing brain morphology in fossil taxa could lead to misinterpretation of the phylogeny or neurosensory development of extinct species. Hence, it is imperative to determine how avian brain morphology changes during post-hatching growth. In this study, chicken brain shape was compared at various developmental stages using three-dimensional (3D) geometric morphometric analysis and the growth rate of brain regions was evaluated to explore post-hatching morphological changes. Microscopic MRI (μMRI) was used to acquire in vivo data from living and post-mortem chicken brains. The telencephalon rotates caudoventrally during growth. This change in shape leads to a relative caudodorsal rotation of the cerebellum and myelencephalon. In addition, all brain regions elongate rostrocaudally and this leads to a more slender brain shape. The growth rates of each brain region were constant and the slopes from the growth formula were parallel. The dominant pattern of ontogenetic shape change corresponded with interspecific shape changes due to increasing brain size. That is, the interspecific and ontogenetic changes in brain shape due to increased size have similar patterns. Although the shape of the brain and each brain region changed considerably, the volume ratio of each brain region did not change. This suggests that the brain can change its shape after completing functional differentiation of the brain regions. Moreover, these results show that consideration of ontogenetic changes in brain shape is necessary for an accurate assessment of brain morphology in paleontological studies.
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spelling doaj.art-025e77f4a2624e35ac79e52a2aef0a0a2022-12-22T01:48:22ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032015-01-01106e012993910.1371/journal.pone.0129939Ontogenetic Shape Change in the Chicken Brain: Implications for Paleontology.Soichiro KawabeSeiji MatsudaNaoki TsunekawaHideki EndoPaleontologists have investigated brain morphology of extinct birds with little information on post-hatching changes in avian brain morphology. Without the knowledge of ontogenesis, assessing brain morphology in fossil taxa could lead to misinterpretation of the phylogeny or neurosensory development of extinct species. Hence, it is imperative to determine how avian brain morphology changes during post-hatching growth. In this study, chicken brain shape was compared at various developmental stages using three-dimensional (3D) geometric morphometric analysis and the growth rate of brain regions was evaluated to explore post-hatching morphological changes. Microscopic MRI (μMRI) was used to acquire in vivo data from living and post-mortem chicken brains. The telencephalon rotates caudoventrally during growth. This change in shape leads to a relative caudodorsal rotation of the cerebellum and myelencephalon. In addition, all brain regions elongate rostrocaudally and this leads to a more slender brain shape. The growth rates of each brain region were constant and the slopes from the growth formula were parallel. The dominant pattern of ontogenetic shape change corresponded with interspecific shape changes due to increasing brain size. That is, the interspecific and ontogenetic changes in brain shape due to increased size have similar patterns. Although the shape of the brain and each brain region changed considerably, the volume ratio of each brain region did not change. This suggests that the brain can change its shape after completing functional differentiation of the brain regions. Moreover, these results show that consideration of ontogenetic changes in brain shape is necessary for an accurate assessment of brain morphology in paleontological studies.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4460028?pdf=render
spellingShingle Soichiro Kawabe
Seiji Matsuda
Naoki Tsunekawa
Hideki Endo
Ontogenetic Shape Change in the Chicken Brain: Implications for Paleontology.
PLoS ONE
title Ontogenetic Shape Change in the Chicken Brain: Implications for Paleontology.
title_full Ontogenetic Shape Change in the Chicken Brain: Implications for Paleontology.
title_fullStr Ontogenetic Shape Change in the Chicken Brain: Implications for Paleontology.
title_full_unstemmed Ontogenetic Shape Change in the Chicken Brain: Implications for Paleontology.
title_short Ontogenetic Shape Change in the Chicken Brain: Implications for Paleontology.
title_sort ontogenetic shape change in the chicken brain implications for paleontology
url http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4460028?pdf=render
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