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Cited by 68Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology StudiesPleistocene-Era Hominins and ArchaeologyPaleontology and Evolutionary Biology

Accessing Developmental Information of Fossil Hominin Teeth Using New Synchrotron Microtomography-Based Visualization Techniques of Dental Surfaces and Interfaces

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Le Cabec, Adeline, Tang, Nancy, Tafforeau, Paul·2015·PLOS ONE
DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0123019PMC PMC4406681
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Abstract

Quantification of dental long-period growth lines (Retzius lines in enamel and Andresen lines in dentine) and matching of stress patterns (internal accentuated lines and hypoplasias) are used in determining crown formation time and age at death in juvenile fossil hominins. They yield the chronology employed for inferences of life history. Synchrotron virtual histology has been demonstrated as a non-destructive alternative to conventional invasive approaches. Nevertheless, fossil teeth are sometimes poorly preserved or physically inaccessible, preventing observation of the external expression of incremental lines (perikymata and periradicular bands). Here we present a new approach combining synchrotron virtual histology and high quality three-dimensional rendering of dental surfaces and internal interfaces. We illustrate this approach with seventeen permanent fossil hominin teeth. The outer enamel surface and enamel-dentine junction (EDJ) were segmented by capturing the phase contrast fringes at the structural interfaces. Three-dimensional models were rendered with Phong's algorithm, and a combination of directional colored lights to enhance surface topography and the pattern of subtle variations in tissue density. The process reveals perikymata and linear enamel hypoplasias on the entire crown surface, including unerupted teeth. Using this method, highly detailed stress patterns at the EDJ allow precise matching of teeth within an individual's dentition when virtual histology is not sufficient. We highlight that taphonomical altered enamel can in particular cases yield artificial subdivisions of perikymata when imaged using X-ray microtomography with insufficient resolution. This may complicate assessments of developmental time, although this can be circumvented by a careful analysis of external and internal structures in parallel. We further present new crown formation times for two unerupted canines from South African Australopiths, which were found to form over a rather surprisingly long time (> 4.5 years). This approach provides tools for maximizing the recovery of developmental information in teeth, especially in the most difficult cases.

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  • Compared with early Homo specimens at a comparable stage of dental development, El Sidrón J1 is at least 2.7 years older than the ~2 myr Homo habilis specimen StW 151.

    “Compared with early Homo specimens at a comparable stage of dental development, El Sidrón J1 is at least 2.7 years older than a ~2 myr Homo habilis specimen, StW 151, (19)(20)(21)(22) but almost identical in age (7.78 years) to a 315 kyr Homo sapiens specimen from Jebel Irhoud, Morocco (23), that shows a prolonged modern humanlike period of dental developmental (24).”

    From The growth pattern of Neandertals, reconstructed from a juvenile skeleton from El Sidrón (Spain) (2017) · cites this paper as [21]

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  1. [8]Boyde A. Estimation of age at death of young human skeletal remains from incremental lines in the dental enamel. Third International Meeting in Forensic Immunology, Medicine, Pathology and Toxicology. London; 1963. pp. 36–46.
  2. [12]Pantke H. Untersuchengen uber Retzius-streifen und Perikymatien. Stoma (Lisb). 1957; 10: 32– 40.
  3. [14]Boyde A. Developmental interpretations of dental microstructure. Primate Life Hist Evol Monogr Primatol. 1990; 14: 229– 267.
  4. [21]Hogg RT. Dental microstructure and growth in the Cebid Primates. PhD Dissertation, City University of New York. 2010.
  5. [22]Asper H. Über die “Braune Retzius’sche Parallelstreifung” im Schmelz der menschlichen Zähne. Schweiz Vierteljahrsschr Für Zahnheilkd. 1916; 26: 275– 314.
  6. [23]Gysi A. Metabolism in adult enamel. Dent Dig. 1931; 37: 661– 668.
  7. [30]Preiswerk G. Beitrage zur Kenntnis der Schmelzstruktur bei Saugetieren mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der Ungulaten. PhD Dissertation, Universität Basel. 1895.
  8. [64]Le Cabec A, Tafforeau P, Smith TM, Carlson KJ, Berger LR. Dental Development of the Australopithecus sediba Juvenile MH1 Determined from Synchrotron Virtual Paleohistology. Proceedings of the European Society for the study of Human Evolution 3. Florence, Italy; 2014. p. 103. Available: http://www.eshe.eu/static/eshe/files/PESHE_3_2014_Florence.pdf
  9. [67]FitzGerald CM. Tooth crown formation and the variation of enamel microstructural growth markers in modern humans. PhD Dissertation, University of Cambridge. 1995.
  10. [71]Smith TM. Incremental development of primate dental enamel. PhD Dissertation, Stony Brook University. 2004.
  11. [84]Yamashita Y, Ichijo T. Comparative studies on the structure of the ameloblasts Mechanisms of tooth enamel formation Part I—Cytology and Cytochemistry of Forming Cells. Tokyo: Quintessence; 1983 pp. 91– 107.

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Authors
Le Cabec, A., Tang, N., & Tafforeau, P.
Affiliations
  • Harvard University (US)
  • European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (FR)
Corresponding author
Tafforeau, Paul
ORCID
Venue
PLOS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Published
2015-04-22
Volume
10
Issue
4
Pages
e0123019
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0123019
PMC
PMC4406681
OpenAlex
W2013756795
Cited by
68
References
75
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3
FWCI
53.60
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) (Harvard University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • HAL (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University
  • Hansjörg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Archeology › Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies
  • Social Sciences › Anthropology › Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
Keywords
X-ray microtomography, perikymata, enamel hypoplasia, enamel-dentine junction, Australopithecus, unerupted teeth, 3D rendering, Phong shading
MeSH terms
Animals, Dental Enamel, Female, Fossils, Stress, Mechanical, Surface Properties, Tooth, Hominidae, Synchrotrons, Tooth Crown, Imaging, Three-Dimensional, X-Ray Microtomography

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