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Changing the topographical anatomy among the maxilla, palatine bone, and greater palatine nerve: a histological study using human fetuses

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Abstract

Purpose

The palatine bone (PAL) rides over the maxilla (MX) without an end-to-end suture in the bony palate of fetuses. However, changes in the topographical relationship among bones was unknown at and along the pterygopalatomaxillary suture, including the palatine canals.

Methods

Using sagittal, frontal, and horizontal histological sections of the head from 15 midterm fetuses to 12 near-term fetuses, we depicted the changes in the topographical anatomy of the MX, PAL, and greater palatine nerve (GPN).

Results

In the bony greater palatine canal of these fetuses, the medial and posterior walls facing the GPN were consistently made up of the PAL. At midterm, the entire course of the GPN was embedded in the PAL (six fetuses), or the MX contributed to the lateral wall of the nerve canal (nine). At near-term, the anterior and lateral walls showed individual variations: an MX in the anterior and lateral walls (three fetuses), an anterior MX and a lateral PAL (five), an anterior PAL and a lateral MX (two), and a PAL surrounding the GPN (four).

Conclusion

These increasing variations suggested that the pterygopalatomaxillary suture was actually growing and that the PAL transiently expanded anteriorly and/or laterally to push the MX in fetuses. The “usual” morphology in which the GPN is sandwiched by the MX and PAL is likely established after birth, possibly during adolescence. The driving force of this change may not be produced by the masticatory apparatus. Rather, it might be triggered by the growing maxillary sinus.

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Data availability

All data used in this work are available for verification upon request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Tokyo Dental College, Tokyo, Japan

    Shinya Hanada, Shuichiro Taniguchi, Masahito Yamamoto, Gen Murakami & Shin-ichi Abe

  2. Department of Anatomy, Jeonbuk National University Medical School, 20 Geonji-Ro, Deokjin-Gu, Jeonju, 54907, Republic of Korea

    Ji Hyun Kim

  3. Division of Internal Medicine, Cupid Clinic, Iwamizawa, Japan

    Gen Murakami

  4. Department of Anatomy and Embryology, School of Medicine, Complutense University, Madrid, Spain

    José Francisco Rodríguez-Vázquez

Authors
  1. Shinya Hanada
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  2. Ji Hyun Kim
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  3. Shuichiro Taniguchi
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  4. Masahito Yamamoto
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  5. Gen Murakami
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  6. José Francisco Rodríguez-Vázquez
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  7. Shin-ichi Abe
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Contributions

SH: data collection, manuscript writing. JHK: project development, data analysis, manuscript editing. ST: data collection, data analysis. MY: data collection, data analysis. GM: project development, data analysis, manuscript writing. JFR-V: data analysis, manuscript editing. SA: data management, manuscript editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ji Hyun Kim.

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No conflict of interest to be declared.

Ethical approval

This study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The use of these specimens was approved by the Ethics Committee of Complutense University (B08/374), the Tokyo Dental College (No. 932) and Akita University (No. 1428).

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Hanada, S., Kim, J.H., Taniguchi, S. et al. Changing the topographical anatomy among the maxilla, palatine bone, and greater palatine nerve: a histological study using human fetuses. Surg Radiol Anat 45, 159–168 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03081-3

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