van Beesel Julia, Melillo Stephanie, Vereecke Evie
Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Biomechanical Engineering, TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands.
J Anat. 2025 May;246(5):709-723. doi: 10.1111/joa.14199. Epub 2025 Jan 4.
Digital muscle reconstructions have gained attraction in recent years, serving as powerful tools in both educational and research contexts. These reconstructions can be derived from various 2D and 3D data sources, enabling detailed anatomical analyses. In this study, we evaluate the efficacy of surface scans in accurately reconstructing the volumes of the rotator cuff and teres major muscles across a diverse sample of hominoids. Additionally, we investigate whether muscle origin area, as a dissection-based observation, can reliably predict muscle volume. Our findings reveal that surface scans provide sufficient coverage to accurately reproduce the in situ volumes of the rotator cuff muscles. However, the volume of the teres major was estimated less reliably, suggesting that muscles with less distinct skeletal boundaries may present challenges for accurate reconstruction. Future studies will explore whether such muscles can be reconstructed with greater precision. Furthermore, we identify a significant correlation between the origin area and muscle volume for the supraspinatus, infraspinatus, and subscapularis muscles. These results suggest that muscle origin area can serve as a reliable predictor of muscle volume, offering a skeletal indicator for estimating muscle size in both extant and extinct hominoids. These insights are particularly valuable for paleontological reconstructions, where direct soft tissue evidence is often lacking. By establishing a relationship between skeletal traits and muscle volume, our study provides a framework for evaluating the accuracy of soft tissue reconstructions in hominoid species. This approach not only enhances our understanding of hominoid anatomy but also offers new avenues for exploring the functional morphology of extinct taxa.
近年来，数字肌肉重建技术备受关注，在教育和研究领域都发挥着强大作用。这些重建可以从各种二维和三维数据源获取，从而实现详细的解剖分析。在本研究中，我们评估了表面扫描在准确重建不同类人猿样本中肩袖肌和大圆肌体积方面的功效。此外，我们还研究了基于解剖观察的肌肉起始面积是否能够可靠地预测肌肉体积。我们的研究结果表明，表面扫描提供了足够的覆盖范围，能够准确再现肩袖肌的原位体积。然而，大圆肌的体积估计可靠性较低，这表明骨骼边界不太明显的肌肉在精确重建方面可能存在挑战。未来的研究将探索此类肌肉是否能够更精确地重建。此外，我们发现冈上肌、冈下肌和肩胛下肌的起始面积与肌肉体积之间存在显著相关性。这些结果表明，肌肉起始面积可以作为肌肉体积的可靠预测指标，为估计现存和已灭绝类人猿的肌肉大小提供一个骨骼指标。这些见解对于古生物学重建尤为重要，因为古生物学重建往往缺乏直接的软组织证据。通过建立骨骼特征与肌肉体积之间的关系，我们的研究为评估类人猿物种软组织重建的准确性提供了一个框架。这种方法不仅增进了我们对类人猿解剖学的理解，还为探索已灭绝类群的功能形态学提供了新途径。
