Modeling intervertebral articulation: The rotule à doigt mechanical joint (RAD) in birds and mammals

• Published in: Journal of Anatomy
• Main Authors: Abourachid, Anick, Gagnier, Benoît, Furet, Matthieu, Cornette, Raphael, Delapre, Arnaud, Hackert, Remi, Wenger, Philippe
• Other Authors: Mécanismes Adaptatifs et Evolution (MECADEV), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes (LS2N), Université de Nantes - UFR des Sciences et des Techniques (UN UFR ST), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-École Centrale de Nantes (ECN)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-IMT Atlantique (IMT Atlantique), Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT), Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB ), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Université Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université des Antilles (UA), ANR-16-CE33-0025,AVINECK,Le cou des oiseaux, un bras pour les robots(2016)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: [SDV.BA.ZV]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Vertebrate Zoology; Canis lupus
• Online Access: https://mnhn.hal.science/mnhn-03445533; https://mnhn.hal.science/mnhn-03445533/document; https://mnhn.hal.science/mnhn-03445533/file/Abourachid%20et%20al%202021%20RAD%20.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.13517

International audience The vertebrate skeleton is composed of articulated bones. Most of the articulations are classically described using mechanical joints, except the intervertebral joint. The aim of this study was to identify a joint model with the same mechanical features as the cervical joints. On the neck vertebrae, six articular surfaces participate in the joint: the cranial part of the centrum and the facets of the two prezygapophyses of a vertebra articulate on the caudal part of the centrum and the two articular facets of the postzygapophyses of the previous vertebra. We used the intervertebral joints of the birds neck to identify the mechanical joint representing intervertebral linkage. This link was described in the literature as a joint allowing two or three rotations and no translation. These features correspond to the rotule à doigt (RAD) joint, a ball and socket joint with a pin. We compared the RAD joint to the postaxial intervertebral joints of the avian neck and found it a suitable model to determine the geometrical features involved in the joint mobility. The difference in the angles of virtual axes linking the geometrical center of the centrum to the zygapophysis surfaces determines the mean dorsoventral flexion of the joint. It also helps to limit longitudinal rotation. The orientation of the zygapophysis surfaces determines the range of motion in both dorsoventral and lateral flexion. The overall system prevents dislocation. The model was validated on 13 joints of a vulture neck and 11 joints of a swallow neck and on one joint (C6–C7) in each of three mammal species: the wolf (Canis lupus), mole (Talpa europaea), and human (Homo sapiens). The RAD mechanical joint was found in all vertebral articulations. This validation of the model on different species shows that the RAD intervertebral joint model makes it possible to extract the parameters that guide and limit the mobility of the cervical spine from the complex shape of the vertebrae and to compare them in interspecific studies.