1. Home
2. Archive
3. 2014
4. 3/2014
5. VARIATION IN FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF PONTICULUS POSTICUS AMONG MODERN HUMANS: GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

VARIATION IN FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF PONTICULUS POSTICUS AMONG MODERN HUMANS: GENERAL OBSERVATIONS

Karapetian Marina

Research Centre for Medical Genetics, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Moscow, Russia

Karapetian Marina, e-mail: marishkakar@hotmail.com.

Abstract

Ponticulus posticus is a non-metric feature located on the first cervical vertebra posterior to the lateral masses (other names: Kimmerle’s anomaly, dorsal ponticle of the atlas). It is found in humans with a frequency of approximately 25% and is more common among non-human primates. The feature has attracted some attention, mainly because the presence of ponticulus posticus was thought to have an adverse effect on blood flow through the vertebral artery. Most of previous works focused on estimating frequencies of the feature within a study population, and little is known about factors affecting its variation in humans. We went through literature on this topic and analyzed frequency distribution of ponticulus posticus in modern humans. In addition we used our own data on 449 atlas vertebrae from 3 Russian and 3 North American osteological series. According to the results, complete ponticulus posticus is more common in males than in females and this pattern is repeatedly seen in most of the samples studied. As we can judge from available data, groups of African ancestry have higher frequencies of the feature compared to Caucasians, this is especially true of female groups. Asian populations show the lowest frequencies. In the Caucasian groups that we studied ponticulus posticus is positively associated with cranial shift at cervico-thoracic border (χ2-test, p<0.05), and negatively – with lumbalization of S1 (p<0.01). In summary, if the frequency of ponticulus posticus is used in inter-group comparisons it should be analyzed separately for each sex. The feature shows mild racial differences. It is somehow associated with cranial shift in spine morphology described by Khüne (1932), the nature of this association is a matter of future studies.

Keywords

ponticulus posticus, human anatomy, non-metric feature, intra-species variability

Цит.: Karapetian Marina VARIATION IN FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION OF PONTICULUS POSTICUS AMONG MODERN HUMANS: GENERAL OBSERVATIONS // Moscow University Anthropology Bulletin (Vestnik Moskovskogo Universiteta. Seria XXIII. Antropologia), 2014; 3/2014; с. 29-30