Anatomical Characteristics of Deer and Sheep Lumbar Spines: Comparison to the Human Lumbar Spine/Caracteristicas Anatomicas de la Columna Vertebral de Ciervos y Ovejas: Comparacion con la Columna Vertebral Humana

• Published in: International journal of morphology 2015-03, Vol.33 (1), p.105
• Main Authors: Wang, Yang, Liu, Ting, Song, Liang-Song, Zhang, Zhi-Xin, Li, You-Qiong, Lu, Lai-Jin
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• ISSN: 0717-9367

Deer and sheep spines are often used as models of the human spine. A prerequisite for the use of animal models is information regarding the interspecies differences in the parameters of general interest. This would clarify the limitations of each animal model and substantiate the applicability of the obtained results to humans. Since sufficient data appear to be currently unavailable, we sought to investigate the feasibility of using deer and sheep as animal models for studies on the human spine. The objective of this study was a thorough comparison of the anatomical parameters of deer and sheep spines with those of the human spine. We employed three-dimensional reconstructions of computed tomography images, generated using figure analysis software, which facilitated quantitative analysis of the linear and curvature parameters and the geometric index of the vertebral bodies. Our findings represent a comprehensive database of the anatomical characteristics of the deer and sheep lumbar spines and their comparisons with those of the human lumbar spine. This study provides insight into the similarities and differences in the vertebral geometries between the human spine and the deer and sheep spines. We found that the differences are minimal and that they do not greatly compromise the utility of deer and sheep lumbar spines as models of the human lumbar spine. KEY WORDS: Spine; Animal model; Comparative anatomy; Sheep; Deer; Human. La columna vertebral de ciervos y ovejas se utiliza frecuentemente como modelo de la columna vertebral humana. Un requisito previo para el uso de modelos animales es la informacion con respecto a las diferencias entre especies en los parametros de interes general, lo que aclara las limitaciones de cada modelo animal y fundamenta la aplicabilidad de los resultados obtenidos para los seres humanos. Debido a que existen datos suficientes actualmente, hemos intentado investigar la viabilidad de utilizar ciervos y ovejas como modelos animales para los estudios sobre la columna vertebral humana. El objetivo fue realizar una comparacion exhaustiva de los parametros anatomicos de las columnas de ciervos y ovejas, con los de la columna vertebral humana. Empleamos reconstrucciones tridimensionales de imagenes de tomografia computadorizada, mediante un programa de analisis de la figura, lo que facilito el analisis cuantitativo de los parametros lineales y de la curvatura y el indice geometrico de las vertebras. Nuestros hallazgos representan un