Linear enamel hypoplasia as an indicator of physiological stress in great apes

Reviewing the evidence in light of enamel growth variation

Bibliographic Data

ID8312413
AuthorsD Guatelli-Steinberg (0000-0002-1345-5384, The Ohio State University, corresponding author), Debbie Guatelli‐steinberg, Rebecca J Ferrell (0009-0001-4813-8194, National Institutes of Health), Jennifer Spence (0000-0002-7854-2841), Jennifer E Spence (The Ohio State University)
Year2012
Volume148
Issue2
Pages191-204
Publication date2012-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAmerican Journal of Physical Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0002-9483 • E-ISSN: 1096-8644
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ajpa.21619
PMID22610895
OpenAlexW2031342435
LanguageEN
Citations received38
References cited56

Physiological stress, such as malnutrition or illness, can disrupt normal enamel growth, resulting in linear enamel hypoplasias (LEHs). Although ecological factors may contribute to LEH expression, other factors, such as surface abrasion and enamel growth variables, are also likely to be involved. Attention to these other factors is necessary before we can begin to understand what LEH might signify in terms of ecological sources of physiological stress in non‐human primates. This study focuses on assessing the contribution of these other factors to variation in LEH expression within and across great ape taxa. Here, we present LEH data from unabraded crown regions in samples of seven great ape species. We analyze these data with respect to lateral enamel formation time and the angles that striae of Retzius make with the enamel surface, as these variables are expected to affect variation in LEH expression. We find that although the duration of enamel formation is associated with sex differences in LEH expression, it is not clearly related to taxonomic variation in LEH expression, and does not explain the low frequency of LEH in mountain gorillas found in this and a previous study. Our data on striae of Retzius angles suggest that these influence LEH expression along the tooth crown and may contribute to the consistently high frequencies of LEH seen in Pongo in this and previous studies. We suggest that future work aimed at understanding species variation in these angles is crucial to evaluating taxonomic patterns of LEH expression in great apes. Am J Phys Anthropol 148:191–204, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Biology · Crown (dentistry) · Enamel hypoplasia · Enamel paint · Evolutionary biology · Taxon · Variation (astronomy) · Zoology · Bone and Dental Protein Studies · Dentistry · Ecology · Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Studies · Medicine · Orthodontics · Wildlife Ecology and Conservation

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