López-Onaindia Diego, Otxoa de Amezaga Amaia, Subirà M Eulàlia
GRAPAC, Grup de Recerca Aplicada al Patrimoni Cultural, Unitat d'Antropologia Biològica, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
Institut de Neurociències and Dpt. Bioquímica and Biología Molecular, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
Anthropol Anz. 2015;72(3):359-68. doi: 10.1127/anthranz/2015/0462. Epub 2015 Jun 25.
Isolated macrodontia, consisting of the gigantism of a single tooth, is an extremely rare condition. Only 16 cases of isolated macrodontia of mandibular second premolars have been reported to date. Although the aetiology of this phenomenon remains unknown, many authors have related it to the control of the apoptotic process, leading to the patterning and size of dental cusps. There is not a clear genetic inheritance pattern since only two of those 16 cases correspond to close relatives. To our knowledge, there have been no reports of isolated macrodontia of mandibular second premolars in archaeological remains. Cova del Pantà de Foix site is a Chalcolithic sepulchral cave situated in the North-East of the Iberian Peninsula in which the remains of at least 30 individuals were recovered. Most of these individuals show several signs of environmental stressors. The current study presents the first case of isolated bilateral macrodontia of mandibular premolars from an archaeological context, corresponding to a young male individual discovered in this site. This condition could be the last consequence of environmental factors epigenetically affecting apoptosis processes in early tooth development and a possible genetic predisposition to show a shape-deviation in the dentition.
孤立性巨牙症，即单颗牙齿的巨大化，是一种极为罕见的病症。迄今为止，仅报道过16例下颌第二前磨牙孤立性巨牙症病例。尽管这种现象的病因尚不清楚，但许多作者将其与凋亡过程的调控联系起来，而凋亡过程会影响牙尖的形态和大小。由于这16例病例中只有两例是近亲，因此不存在明确的遗传模式。据我们所知，在考古遗骸中尚无下颌第二前磨牙孤立性巨牙症的报道。科瓦德尔潘塔德福伊克斯遗址是位于伊比利亚半岛东北部的一个铜石并用时代的墓葬洞穴，在那里发现了至少30个人的遗骸。这些个体中的大多数都有环境压力的迹象。本研究首次报道了来自考古背景的下颌前磨牙孤立性双侧巨牙症病例，该病例对应的是在该遗址发现的一名年轻男性个体。这种情况可能是环境因素在牙齿早期发育过程中对凋亡过程产生表观遗传影响的最终结果，以及牙列出现形态偏差的一种可能的遗传倾向。
