Description:

Dr. Callum F. Ross
 

Effective treatment for dysphagia depends on a solid understanding of hyolingual morphology, biomechanics, and neural control in both humans and animal models. There is significant variation among animal models in morphology of the hyoid chain and suprahyoid muscles which may be associated with variation in swallowing mechanisms. The recent deployment of XROMM (X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology) to quantify 3D hyolingual kinematics makes it possible to document this variation in animal models. XROMM based studies of swallowing in macaques have falsified traditional hypotheses of mechanisms of tongue base retraction during swallowing, and literature review suggests that other animal models may employ a diversity of mechanisms of tongue base retraction. Head posture significantly impacts hyoid position and suprahyoid muscle lengths in animal models and humans. Better understanding of these muscle mechanics is needed.