A comparison of metrics for quantifying cranial suture complexity

Author:

White Heather E.123ORCID,Clavel Julien14,Tucker Abigail S.2ORCID,Goswami Anjali13

Affiliation:

1. Department of Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK

2. Centre for Craniofacial and Regenerative Biology, King's College London SE1 9RT, UK

3. Division of Biosciences, University College London WC1E 6DE, UK

4. Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, ENTPE, UMR 5023 LEHNA, F-69622, Villeurbanne, France

Abstract

Cranial sutures play critical roles in facilitating postnatal skull development and function. The diversity of function is reflected in the highly variable suture morphology and complexity. Suture complexity has seldom been studied, resulting in little consensus on the most appropriate approach for comparative, quantitative analyses. Here, we provide the first comprehensive comparison of current approaches for quantifying suture morphology, using a wide range of two-dimensional suture outlines across extinct and extant mammals ( n = 79). Five complexity metrics (sinuosity index (SI), suture complexity index (SCI), fractal dimension (FD) box counting, FD madogram and a windowed short-time Fourier transform with power spectrum density (PSD) calculation) were compared with each other and with the shape variation in the dataset. Analyses of suture shape demonstrate that the primary axis of variation captured attributes other than complexity, supporting the use of a complexity metric over raw shape data for sutural complexity analyses. Each approach captured different aspects of complexity. PSD successfully discriminates different sutural features, such as looping patterns and interdigitation amplitude and number, while SCI best-captured variation in interdigitation number alone. Therefore, future studies should consider the relevant attributes for their question when selecting a metric for comparative analysis of suture variation, function and evolution.

Funder

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Publisher

The Royal Society

Subject

Biomedical Engineering,Biochemistry,Biomaterials,Bioengineering,Biophysics,Biotechnology

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