Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA.
Skeletal Biology Research Centre, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.
Am J Biol Anthropol. 2023 May;181(1):118-129. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.24709. Epub 2023 Feb 21.
The Neanderthal patella differs from that of extant humans by being thicker anteroposteriorly and by having more symmetric medial and lateral articular facets. However, it is still unclear to what extent these differences affect knee kinesiology. We aim at assessing the endostructural conformation of Neanderthal patellae to reveal functionally related mechanical information comparatively to the extant human condition. In principle, we expect that the Neanderthal patella (i) shows a higher amount of cortical bone and (ii) a trabecular network organization distinct from the extant human condition.
By using micro-focus X-ray tomography, we characterized the endostructure of six adult patellae from the OIS 5e Neanderthal site of Krapina, Croatia, the largest assemblage of human fossil patellae assessed so far, and compared their pattern to the configuration displayed by a sample of 22 recent humans.
The first expectation is rejected, indicating that the patellar bone might have not followed the trend of generalized gracilization of the human postcranial skeleton occurred through the Upper Pleistocene. The second prediction is at least partially supported. In Krapina the trabecular network differs from the comparative sample by showing a higher medial density and by lacking a proximal reinforcement. Such conformation indicates similar load patterns exerted in Neanderthals and extant humans by the vastus lateralis, but not by the vastus medialis, with implications on the mediolateral stabilization of the knee joint. However, the patterns of structural variation of the patellar network remain to be assessed in other Neanderthal samples.
尼安德特人的髌骨在前后方向上比现生人类更厚，并且内侧和外侧关节面更对称。然而，这些差异在多大程度上影响膝关节运动学仍然不清楚。我们的目的是评估尼安德特人髌骨的内结构构象，以揭示与现生人类状况相比具有功能相关性的机械信息。原则上，我们预计尼安德特人髌骨（i）表现出更高量的皮质骨和（ii）与现生人类状况不同的小梁网络组织。
通过使用微焦点 X 射线断层扫描，我们对来自克罗地亚克拉皮纳 OIS 5e 尼安德特人遗址的六个体成年髌骨的内结构进行了特征描述，这是迄今为止评估的最大的人类化石髌骨集合体，并将其模式与 22 个近期人类样本的配置进行了比较。
第一个预期被否定，表明髌骨骨可能没有遵循人类后骨骼在更新世期间普遍出现的纤细化趋势。第二个预测至少部分得到支持。在克拉皮纳，小梁网络与比较样本不同，表现出更高的内侧密度，并且缺乏近端强化。这种构象表明，股外侧肌在尼安德特人和现生人类中施加了类似的负荷模式，但股内侧肌没有，这对膝关节的内外侧稳定性有影响。然而，髌骨网络结构变异的模式仍有待在其他尼安德特人样本中进行评估。
