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This study evaluates a related mechanism in which neighboring cranial structures undergo simple mechanical plastic deformation driven by soft-tissue expansion during human early postnatal growth. A finite element model of an early postnatal cranium, brain, and masticatory muscles was built from CT and MRI and compared with normative neonatal MRI data (0–4 months) using geometric morphometrics. Results indicate allometric, cranial base–related changes consistent with the simulations, with brain expansion mainly affecting the cranial vault and muscle expansion causing smaller, widespread effects; combined expansion shows muscular constraining effects, supporting partly structural regional relationships in the first months.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/computational-simulation-of-cranial-soft-tissue-expansion-on-the-cranium-during-early-postnatal-growth-in-humans/456226/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/computational-simulation-of-cranial-soft-tissue-expansion-on-the-cranium-during-early-postnatal-growth-in-humans/456226.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"4398046744996","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-08","2026-09-30",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":14},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What mechanism does the study investigate for early postnatal cranial change?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It tests whether simple mechanical plastic deformation of neighboring head structures, triggered by soft tissue expansion, can explain early postnatal cranial shape changes in humans.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How was the computational model constructed and what data were used?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"A finite element model of an early postnatal human cranium, brain, and masticatory muscles was created from CT and MRI, then growth was simulated using a tissue expansion material.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How did expanding the brain vs. the masticatory muscles affect cranial shape?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Brain expansion produced broadly similar basicranial shape changes with most growth in the cranial vault, while masticatory muscle expansion yielded smaller but more widespread changes across the cranium.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},456226,1791471297,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":66,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":133,"file_id":134,"file_url":135,"file_type":136,"file_size":137,"view_count":14,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":138,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144},4398046744996,"DOI: 10. 1111/joa.14211  \nOR I G I NAL ART I C L E  \nComputational simulation of cranial soft tissue expansion on the cranium during early postnatal growth in humans  \nAmy Manson  | Nathan Jeffery  \nDepartment of Musculoskeletal & Ageing Science, Institute of Life Course & Medical Sciences (ILCaMS) and Human Anatomy Resource Centre (HARC), Education Directorate, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK  \nCorrespondence  \nAmy Manson, Department of Musculoskeletal & Ageing Science, Institute of Life Course & Medical Sciences (ILCaMS) and Human Anatomy Resource Centre (HARC), Education Directorate, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.  \nEmail: [amy. manson@liverpool.ac.uk](amy. manson@liverpool.ac.uk)  \nAbstract  \nThe importance of interactions between neighbouring rapidly growing tissues of the head during development is recognised, yet this competition for space remains incompletely understood. The developing structures likely interact through a variety of mechanisms, including directly genetically programmed growth, and are mediated via physiological signalling that can be triggered by structural interactions. In this study, we aimed to investigate a different but related potential mechanism, that of simple mechanical plastic deformation of neighbouring structures of the head in response to soft tissue expansion during human postnatal ontogeny. We use computational modelling and normative real-world data to evaluate the potential for mechanical deformation to predict early postnatal cranial shape changes in humans. We test some aspects of the spatial packing hypothesis applied to the growing brain and masticatory muscles, and their effects on the cranium, with a particular focus on the basicranium and face. A simple finite element model of an early postnatal human cranium, brain and masticatory muscles was created from CT and MRI. Growth of the brain and muscles was simulated using a tissue expansion material. The effect of the expanding soft tissues on the cranium was assessed using geometric morphometrics, comparing the baseline model to simulation results, and also to normative cranial shape data collected from neonatal MRI (0–4 months of age) . Findings revealed that cranial shape changes present in the normative sample were consistent with cranial base flexion and were largely allometric (size-linked) . Simulation of brain expansion produced broadly similar shape changes of the basicranium with most growth occurring in the cranial vault, while masticatory muscle expansion produced smaller and more widespread changes throughout the cranium. When simulated together, expansion of themasticatory muscles exerted a constraining effect on the results of brain expansion. Our findings that the simple growth simulations were able to mimic biological growth suggest that the relationship between regions of the developing head may be partly structural within the first few months of postnatal ontogeny in humans.  \nK E Y WO R D S  \nbrain, cranium, geometric morphometrics, growth, integration, ontogeny, Procrustes  \nThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.  \n© 2025 The Author(s) . Journal of Anatomy published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Anatomical Society.  \n1 | INTRODUCTION  \nThe developmental period involves many complex interactions between often rapidly growing tissues. The differing spatial needs of growing organs and structures during development has been acknowledged at least as early as 1895, where Roux referred to‘the struggle of the organs for space’ (Schumacher, 1997), subsequently referred to as ‘mechanically forced correlation’ by Gould and Lewontin (1979), which helped found theories of developmental integration and modularity (e. g. Cheverud, 1996; Junget al. , 2021; Ross & Ravosa, 1993; Zollikofer et al. , 2017) . However, while the interactions between","cbCaimyTs0j2zVxJ","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaimyTs0j2zVxJ","pdf",4669607,14,"English","# Introduction\n## Ontogenetic variation","[{\"question\":\"What mechanism does the study investigate for early postnatal cranial change?\",\"answer\":\"It tests whether simple mechanical plastic deformation of neighboring head structures, triggered by soft tissue expansion, can explain early postnatal cranial shape changes in humans.\"},{\"question\":\"How was the computational model constructed and what data were used?\",\"answer\":\"A finite element model of an early postnatal human cranium, brain, and masticatory muscles was created from CT and MRI, then growth was simulated using a tissue expansion material.\"},{\"question\":\"How did expanding the brain vs. the masticatory muscles affect cranial shape?\",\"answer\":\"Brain expansion produced broadly similar basicranial shape changes with most growth in the cranial vault, while masticatory muscle expansion yielded smaller but more widespread changes across the cranium.\"}]","Computational simulation of cranial soft tissue expansion on the cranium during early postnatal growth in humans | PDF",1790745376,35]