Cranial Suture Closure in Domestic Dog Breeds and Its Relationships to Skull Morphology

In this study, we aim to explore breed‐specific patterns of cranial suture and synchondrosis closure in relation to the prebasial angle (proxy for airorhynchy and thus bulldog‐type skull conformation) in domestic dogs. For this purpose, we coded closure of 18 sutures and synchondroses in 26 wolves, that is, the wild ancestor of all domestic dogs, and 134 domestic dogs comprising 11 breeds. Comparisons of the relative amount of closing and closed sutures and synchondroses (closure scores) in adult individuals showed that bulldog‐type breeds have significantly higher closure scores than non‐bulldog‐type breeds and that domestic dogs have significantly higher closure scores than the wolf. We further found that the prebasial angle is significantly positively correlated with the amount of closure of the basispheno‐presphenoid synchondrosis and sutures of the nose (premaxillo‐nasal and maxillo‐nasal) and the palate (premaxillo‐maxillary and interpalatine). Our results show that there is a correlation between patterns of suture and synchondrosis closure and skull shape in domestic dogs, although the causal relationships remain elusive. Anat Rec, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Source: The Anatomical Record Part B: The New Anatomist - February 26, 2016 Category: Anatomy Authors: Madeleine Geiger, Sinah Haussman Tags: Full Length Article Source Type: research