Mihlbachler Matthew C, Rusnack Frances, Beatty Brian Lee
Department of Anatomy, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY, USA.
Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY, USA.
R Soc Open Sci. 2022 Jun 8;9(6):211549. doi: 10.1098/rsos.211549. eCollection 2022 Jun.
Dental microwear is used to investigate feeding ecology. Animals ingest geological material in addition to food. The full effect of geological abrasives on tooth wear is unknown. To evaluate mineralogical abrasives as tooth wear agents, rats were fed food manufactured with quartz silt, diatomaceous earth, and calcium carbonate. Rats were assigned to treatments and fed for 15 days. Molars were scanned with a Sensofar Plu Neox confocal microscope and evaluated using ISO-25178-2 parameters and traditional microwear variables using light microscopy. Using a pellet-diet as the control, all treatments had influence on microwear and discriminant function analyses indicated that unique surface textures had been produced. ISO variables with high discriminatory values were correlated to scratch and pit frequencies, but more ISO parameters identified changes associated with numbers of scratches than changes associated with pits. The microwear changes associated with the abrasive inclusions were co-dependent on the type of diet that the abrasives had been added to. The abrasives had less effect with pellets but produced more modified and more differentiated microwear when added to the transgenic dough. Although abrasives produce distinctive surface textures, some knowledge of the properties of food with the abrasives is needed to identify the abrasive agent.
牙齿微磨损被用于研究摄食生态学。动物除了摄入食物外还会摄取地质物质。地质磨蚀剂对牙齿磨损的全面影响尚不清楚。为了评估矿物学磨蚀剂作为牙齿磨损因素，给大鼠喂食用石英粉、硅藻土和碳酸钙制造的食物。将大鼠分配到不同处理组并喂食15天。用Sensofar Plu Neox共聚焦显微镜扫描磨牙，并使用ISO-25178-2参数以及光学显微镜下的传统微磨损变量进行评估。以颗粒饲料作为对照，所有处理对微磨损均有影响，判别函数分析表明产生了独特的表面纹理。具有高判别值的ISO变量与划痕和凹坑频率相关，但更多的ISO参数识别出与划痕数量相关的变化，而非与凹坑相关的变化。与磨料夹杂物相关的微磨损变化共同依赖于添加磨料的饮食类型。磨料对颗粒饲料的影响较小，但添加到转基因面团中时会产生更多改变且更具差异性的微磨损。尽管磨料会产生独特的表面纹理，但需要了解含有磨料的食物特性才能识别磨蚀剂。
