Analysis of the effects of the masseter muscle on the skull of an experimental animal in the presence of a traumatic/changing muscle biomechanics factor

Abstract

Most authors recognize that the currently dominant scientific paradigm assumes that genomic rather than functional factors regulate (cause, control) the growth of cranial bones and cranial sutures. In contrast, the authors of this article offer some clarifications to address some unintentional conceptual misconceptions, based primarily on an extensive review of the relevant current literature and their own experience. This article describes the increased modulation of mechanotransduction produced by skeletal muscle activity, to which bone cells respond maximally. The authors describe the actual chain of events that influences the stimulation of bone cell growth. This influence makes it possible to propose a means of controlling these processes and developing new correction methods, including suppression of phenotypic expression. The authors present the results of a study of the effect of mechanical loading of the masticatory muscles with a continuous stretching stimulus to increase the width of extension of the sagittal suture of the experimental animal in vivo. The methodology is described, and objective instrumental control data are presented. The results of statistical processing are also presented. The authors give empirical data in this paper. These experiments prove that chewing load is one of the primary stimuli that generate craniofacial variations, affecting the structure of the cranial suture. The authors conducted the experimental part of the research at the Vivarium of Conventional Animals Collaborative Center of the Federal Research Center of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.