2007, Vol.20, No.1

Anatomy & Biological Anthropology 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.33

pISSN : 2671-5651 / eISSN : 2671-566X
https://journal.kci.go.kr/aba

The Mental foramen is the exit of the mandibular canal through which the mental nerve pass. The location of the mental foramen, an anthropologically valuable structure, is not only influenced by factors such as tooth attrition, age, loss of teeth, and alveolar bone resorption but also race, diet and geographical position. This study was undertaken to clarify the anthropological characteristics of the location of the mental foramina in the mandibles of the selected Korean population. Forty four mandibles (23 males and 21 females with average age of 66.5 years obtained from the collection of the department of anatomy and cell biology of Hanyang medical college were studied. The apparent position of mental foramen in relation to the mandibular teeth and the true position of mental foramen in relation to the body of the mandible were measured. The obtained results were as follows: In 89% of 35 mandibular sides the mental foramen was located around the second premolar, the most commonly between the second premolar and the first molar, which belongs to type V according to Wang et al. (1986). The distances from the alveolar bone crest across the mental foramen to the lower border of the mandible was 27.4±2.4 mm. The mean distances from mental foramen to the alveolar crest and lower border were 12.1±2.3 and 13.1±2.0 mm, respectively. The mean position of mental foramen was 4.08 on the line between the second premolar and the first molar. The mental foramen of selected Korean population was located more posterioly when compared with many previous reports from various races. The results of this study would be useful to clarify the anthropological position of the mental foramen in Korean.

Variations of spinal nerue compositions, which giue rise to the variable motor and sensory component, occured at the terminal branches of brachial plexus. This study performed to investigate the spinal nerve compositions of the main terminal branches of the brachial plexus in 32 sides of Korean adults. The main terminal branches contained the musculocutaneous, median, ulnar, radial and axillary nerves. The obtained results were as follows. The spinal nerve compositions of musculocutaneous nerve appeared as two types. The most frequent type was composed of C5, C6 and C7 at 75.0%. The mean diameter of C5 and C6 was 1.68±0.21 mm and 1.66±0.40 mm, respectively. The median nerve appeared as two types. The most frequent type was composed of C6, C7, C8, T1 components at 87.5%. The mean diameter of C7 was the thickest at 2.64±0.48 mm and C5 was most thin at 0.28±0.04 mm. The ulnar nerve appeared as four types. The most frequent type was comprised with C7, C8 and T1 at 75.0%. In the mean diameter, C8 was the thickest with 2.64±0.57mm and T1 was most thin with 0.06±0.56 mm. The radial nerve appeared as four types. The most frequent type was comprised from C5 to T1 at 43.7%. In the mean diameter, C7 was the thickest at 2.70±0.52 mm. The axillary nerve appeared as two types. The frequentest type was comprised with C5, C6 and C7 at 56.2%. In the mean diameter, C6 was the thickest at 1.73±0.56 mm. From the obtained results, spinal nerve compositions of the main terminal branches of the brachial plexus were more variable than the description of the anatomic textbook.

This study was performed to investigate the morphometric changes of myenteric plexus and type 1 interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC-I) in regeneration process of small intestine transection. Sprague Dawley rats (200~250 g) were anesthetized with ether; then the full thickness of ileal wall were semitransected; and subsequent end-to-end anastomosis were performed by using 6-0 silk suture thread. Sham-operated rats, which only underwent the laparotomy, were used for control group. Experimental animals were sacrificed at 3 days, 7 days, 15 days, and 30 days after the operation. In each group myenteric plexus and ICC-Is were prepared by histochemical method (NADH-TR stain for myenteric plexus, ZIO stain for ICC-Is) and cell numbers were counted by image analyzer (Image plus pro-5.0, Media Cybermedics, USA). Degeneration of myenteric neurons and ICC-Is occurred simultaneously and it was similar in oral and anal to the site of transection. Degeneration effects were most prominent at 3 days and 7 days after intestinal transection. In myenteric plexus, many neurons had degenerated appearances and about 40% of them were lost. Most of ICC-Is had cytoplasmic vacuoles and 20~37% of the cells were lost. At 15 days after transection, there were no more degeneration in myenteric neurons (20~25% cell loss) and ICC-Is (20~13% cell loss). At 30 days after transection, numbers of myenteric neurons were not recovered as that of the control group. However numbers of ICC-Is were as similar as that of the control group. In conclusion, we confirmed that degeneration effects of intestinal transection are more severe in myenteric plexus than in ICC-Is, and recovery of cell loss occurs more slowly in myenteric plexus.