Motion from the past. A new method to infer vestibular capacities of extinct species |
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Authors: | Romain David Jacques Droulez Ronan Allain Alain Berthoz Philippe Janvier Daniel Bennequin |
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Institution: | 1. CNRS-MNHN-UPMC, UMR 7207, centre de recherche sur la paléobiodiversité et les paléoenvironnements (CR2P), département histoire de la Terre, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN), 57, rue Cuvier, CP38, 75005 Paris, France;2. UMR 7152, laboratoire de physiologie de la perception et de l’action, Collège de France, CNRS-Collège de France, 11, place Marcelin-Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France;3. Équipe géométrie et dynamique, CNRS UMR 7586, université Denis-Diderot Paris VII, institut de mathématiques de Jussieu, 175, rue du Chevaleret, 75013 Paris, France |
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Abstract: | The vestibular system detects head movement in space and maintains visual and postural stability. The semicircular canal system is responsible for registering head rotation. How it responds to head rotation is determined by the rotational axis and the angular acceleration of the head, as well as the sensitivity and orientation of each semicircular canal. The morphological parameters of the semicircular canals are supposed to allow an optimal detection of head rotations induced by some behaviours, especially locomotor. We propose a new method of semicircular canal analysis, based on the computation of central streamlines of virtually reconstructed labyrinths. This method allows us to ascertain the functional structure of the semicircular canal system and to infer its capacity to detect particular head rotations, induced by particular behaviours. In addition, this method is well-suited for datasets provided by any kind of serial sectioning methods, from MRI to μCT scanning and even mechanical serial sectioning, of extant and extinct taxa. |
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