title: Parietal Bone Thickness and Vascular Diameters in Adult Modern Humans: A Survey on Cranial Remains.
abstract: Cranial bone thickness varies among modern humans, and many factors influencing this variability remain unclear. Growth hormones and physical activity are thought to influence the vault thickness. Considering that both systemic factors and energy supply influence the vascular system, and taking into account the structural and biomechanical interaction between endocranial vessels and vault bones, in this study we evaluate the correlation between vascular and bone diameters. In particular, we tested the relationship between the thickness of the parietal bone (which is characterized, in modern humans, by a complex vascular network) and the lumen size of the middle meningeal and diploic vessels, in adult modern humans. Our results show no patent correlation between the thickness of parietal bone and the size of the main vascular channels. Values and distributions of the branching patterns, as well as anatomical relationships between vessels and bones, are also described in order to provide information concerning the arrangement of the endocranial vascular morphology. This information is relevant in both evolutionary and medical contexts. Anat Rec, 299:888-896, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Paleobiología, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Spain.
authors.forename: Stanislava
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eisová
authors.affiliation: Area de Prehistoria, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain.|Institut Català De Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES), Tarragona, Spain.
authors.forename: Gizéh
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Rangel de Lázaro
authors.affiliation: Katedra antropologie a genetiky člověka, Univerzita Karlova, Czech Republic.|Antropologické oddělení Přírodovědeckého muzea, Narodnı Muzeum, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Hana
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Píšová
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Paleobiología, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Spain.
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pereira-Pedro
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Paleobiología, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Burgos, Spain.
authors.forename: Emiliano
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bruner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005580:Fossils; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010294:Parietal Bone / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology
keywords: computed tomography; cranial anatomy; diploic veins; middle meningeal artery