Liugan Mikee, Zhang Ming, Cakmak Yusuf Ozgur
Department of Anatomy, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
Front Neurol. 2018 Jan 16;8:752. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2017.00752. eCollection 2017.
The mammalian external ear houses extrinsic and intrinsic auricular muscles. There are three extrinsic auricular muscles-the posterior, superior, and anterior auricular muscles-and six intrinsic muscles-the helicis major and minor, tragicus, anti-tragicus, transverse and oblique muscles. These muscles have been considered vestigial in humans. However, numerous therapeutic and diagnostic wearable devices are designed to monitor and alleviate the symptoms of neurological disorders, brainstem injuries, emotional states, and auditory functions, by making use of the neural networks of the auricular muscles and their locations, which are easily accessible for ergonomic wearable biomedical devices. They can also serve as a bio-controller of human neuroprosthetics. The functionality of these auricular muscles remains elusive and requires further experimentation for a more in-depth understanding of their anatomy. The aims of this review are (1) to provide a detailed account of the neural networks of the extrinsic and intrinsic auricular muscles, (2) to describe diagnostic and therapeutic functions of these muscles as demonstrated in the current literature, and (3) to outline existing and potential neuroprosthetic applications making use of the auricular muscles and their neural networks.
哺乳动物的外耳包含外在和内在的耳廓肌肉。有三块外在耳廓肌肉,即耳后肌、耳上肌和耳前肌,以及六块内在肌肉,即拇、小指耳肌、耳屏肌、对耳屏肌、横肌和斜肌。这些肌肉在人类中被认为是退化的。然而,许多治疗和诊断可穿戴设备旨在通过利用耳廓肌肉的神经网络及其位置来监测和缓解神经障碍、脑干损伤、情绪状态和听觉功能的症状,这些位置对于符合人体工程学的可穿戴生物医学设备来说很容易触及。它们还可以作为人类神经假体的生物控制器。这些耳廓肌肉的功能仍然难以捉摸,需要进一步实验以更深入地了解其解剖结构。本综述的目的是:(1)详细介绍外在和内在耳廓肌肉的神经网络;(2)描述当前文献中所展示的这些肌肉的诊断和治疗功能;(3)概述利用耳廓肌肉及其神经网络的现有和潜在神经假体应用。