Copyright
©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Segmentations of the cartilaginous skeletons of chondrichthyan fishes by the use of state-of-the-art computed tomography
Andrew D McQuiston, Callie Crawford, U Joseph Schoepf, Akos Varga-Szemes, Christian Canstein, Matthias Renker, Carlo N De Cecco, Stefan Baumann, Gavin J P Naylor
Andrew D McQuiston, U Joseph Schoepf, Akos Varga-Szemes, Matthias Renker, Carlo N De Cecco, Stefan Baumann, Division of Cardiovascular Imaging, Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, United States
Callie Crawford, Christian Canstein, Gavin J P Naylor, Hollings Marine Laboratory, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29425, United States
Matthias Renker, Department of Internal Medicine I, Cardiology/Angiology, Giessen University, 430011 Giessen, Germany
Carlo N De Cecco, Department of Radiological Sciences, Oncology and Pathology, University of Rome “Sapienza”-Polo Pontino, 04100 Latina, Italy
Stefan Baumann, First Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Mannheim, University Medical Centre Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, 68305 Mannheim, Germany
Author contributions: All the authors contributed to the manuscript.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: This study used preserved museum specimens and was exempt from IACUC approval.
Institutional review board statement: Not applicable.
Conflict-of-interest statement: U Joseph Schoepf, MD is a consultant for and/or receives research support from Astellas, Bayer, Bracco GE Healthcare, Guerbet, Medrad, and Siemens Healthineers. Drs. Akos Varga-Szemes and Carlo N. De Cecco were consultants for and/or received research support from Guerbet and Siemens. Christian Canstein, MSc is an employee of Siemens. The other authors declare that they have no conflicts-of-interest.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: U Joseph Schoepf, MD, Professor of Radiology, Medicine and Pediatrics, Director, Division of Cardiovascular Imaging, Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina, Ashley River Tower, 25 Courtenay Drive, Charleston, SC 29425, United States.
schoepf@musc.edu
Telephone: +1-843-7922633 Fax: +1-843-7920409
Received: August 7, 2016
Peer-review started: August 8, 2016
First decision: September 28, 2016
Revised: October 25, 2016
Accepted: December 13, 2016
Article in press: December 14, 2016
Published online: April 28, 2017
Processing time: 265 Days and 22.5 Hours
AIM
To apply dual-source multidetector computed tomography (DSCT) scanning technology in conjunction with computationally assisted segmentation in order to explore and document skeletal variation that has occurred over the course of evolution.
METHODS
We examined 4 divergent species of elasmobranchs with high-resolution 3rd generation DSCT. The formalin prepared species examined were: Aptychotrema vincentiana, Mitsukurina owstoni, Negaprion brevirostris and Dactylobatus armatus.
RESULTS
All three structures of the hyoid arch (hyomandibular, ceratohyal, and basihyal) were clearly visible whereas in the two batoids, the hyomandibular was the prominent feature, the ceratohyal was not visible and the basihyal was more reduced and closer to the gill arches. The general shape of the puboischiadic bar, or pelvic girdle, illustrated a closer relationship between the two sharks and the two batoids than between the two groups.
CONCLUSION
In exquisite detail, DSCT imaging revealed important morphological variations in various common structures in the four elasmobranch specimens studied, providing insights into their evolutionary diversification.
Core tip: Computed tomography is a helpful noninvasive imaging tool for comparative biology. The skeletal variations observed through our data will increase our understanding of how the anatomy of these organisms has changed over the course of evolution. The data collected allows for a more comprehensive understanding regarding the evolutionary history of the group.
