@article{400525bd050e40a0846a8b242acb1ed0,
title = "Are endocasts reliable proxies for brains? A 3D quantitative comparison of the extant human brain and endocast",
abstract = "Endocasts (i.e., replicas of the inner surface of the bony braincase) constitute a critical proxy for qualifying and quantifying variations in brain shape and organization in extinct taxa. In the absence of brain tissues preserved in the fossil record, endocasts provide the only direct evidence of brain evolution. However, debates on whether or not information inferred from the study of endocasts reflects brain shape and organization have polarized discussions in paleoneurology since the earliest descriptions of cerebral imprints in fossil hominin crania. By means of imaging techniques (i.e., MRIs and CT scans) and 3D modelling methods (i.e., surface-based comparisons), we collected consistent morphological (i.e., shape) and structural (i.e., sulci) information on the variation patterns between the brain and the endocast based on a sample of extant human individuals (N = 5) from the 3D clinical image database of the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria (South Africa) and the H{\^o}pitaux Universitaires Piti{\'e} Salp{\^e}tri{\`e}re in Paris (France). Surfaces of the brain and endocast of the same individual were segmented from the 3D MRIs and CT images, respectively. Sulcal imprints were automatically detected. We performed a deformation-based shape analysis to compare both the shape and the sulcal pattern of the brain and the endocast. We demonstrated that there is close correspondence in terms of morphology and organization between the brain and the corresponding endocast with the exception of the superior region. By comparatively quantifying the shape and organization of the brain and endocast, this work represents an important reference for paleoneurological studies.",
keywords = "automatic segmentation, brain shape, paleoneurology, sulci, surface-based comparison",
author = "Jean Dumoncel and G{\'e}rard Subsol and Stanley Durrleman and Anne Bertrand and {de Jager}, Edwin and Oettl{\'e}, {Anna C.} and Zarina Lockhat and Suleman, {Farhana E.} and Am{\'e}lie Beaudet",
note = "Funding Information: Model-based deformation computation was granted access to the HPC resources of CALMIP (Grant 2019-P1440). This research has been supported by the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences (CoE-Palaeo), the Erasmus Mundus program {\textquoteleft}A European and South African Partnership on Heritage and Past+{\textquoteright} (AESOP+ program) and the University of the Witwatersrand. We are grateful to J. Braga for scientific discussion. We thank D. Stratford for his comments and suggestions. We thank the Editor as well as two anonymous reviewers for their comments which contributed to improve the original version of this manuscript. Ethical clearance for the use of MRIs and CT scans was obtained from APHP hospitals and from the Main Research Ethics committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria. Funding Information: Model‐based deformation computation was granted access to the HPC resources of CALMIP (Grant 2019‐P1440). This research has been supported by the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the Centre of Excellence in Palaeosciences (CoE‐Palaeo), the Erasmus Mundus program {\textquoteleft}A European and South African Partnership on Heritage and Past+{\textquoteright} (AESOP+ program) and the University of the Witwatersrand. We are grateful to J. Braga for scientific discussion. We thank D. Stratford for his comments and suggestions. We thank the Editor as well as two anonymous reviewers for their comments which contributed to improve the original version of this manuscript. Ethical clearance for the use of MRIs and CT scans was obtained from APHP hospitals and from the Main Research Ethics committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 The Authors. Journal of Anatomy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Anatomical Society",
year = "2021",
month = feb,
doi = "10.1111/joa.13318",
language = "English",
volume = "238",
pages = "480--488",
journal = "Journal of Anatomy",
issn = "0021-8782",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd",
number = "2",
}