Head sinuses, melon, and jaws of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, observed with computed tomography structural and single photon emission computed tomography functional imaging

Abstract

The head sinuses, melon, and lower jaws of dolphins have been studied extensively with various methods including radiography, chemical analysis, and imaging of dead specimens. Here we report the first structural and functional imaging of live dolphins. Two animals were imaged, one male and one female. Computed tomography (CT) revealed extensive air cavities posterior and medial to the ear as well as between the ear and sound-producing nasal structures. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) employing 50 mCi of the intravenously injected ligand technetium [Tc-99m] biscisate (Neurolite) revealed extensive and uptake in the core of the melon as well as near the pan bone area of the lower jaw. Count density on SPECT images was four times greater in melon as in the surrounding tissue and blubber layer suggesting that the melon is an active rather than a passive tissue. Since the dolphin temporal bone is not attached to the skull except by fibrous suspensions, the air cavities medial and posterior to the ear as well as the abutment of the temporal bone, to the acoustic fat bodies of each lower jaw, should be considered in modeling the mechanism of sound transmission from the environment to the dolphin ear.