Quantifying the three-dimensional facial morphology of the laboratory rat with a focus on the vibrissae.

ABSTRACT: The morphology of an animal's face will have large effects on the sensory information it can acquire. Here we quantify the arrangement of cranial sensory structures of the rat, with special emphasis on the mystacial vibrissae (whiskers). Nearly all mammals have vibrissae, which are generally arranged in rows and columns across the face. The vibrissae serve a wide variety of important behavioral functions, including navigation, climbing, wake following, anemotaxis, and social interactions. To date, however, there are few studies that compare the morphology of vibrissal arrays across species, or that describe the arrangement of the vibrissae relative to other facial sensory structures. The few studies that do exist have exploited the whiskers' grid-like arrangement to quantify array morpholo

SUBMITTER: Belli HM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5886528 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature