The contractile patterns, anatomy and physiology of the hyoid musculature change longitudinally through infancy.

ABSTRACT: All mammalian infants suckle, a fundamentally different process than drinking in adults. Infant mammal oropharyngeal anatomy is also anteroposteriorly compressed and becomes more elongate postnatally. While suckling and drinking require different patterns of muscle use and kinematics, little insight exists into how the neuromotor and anatomical systems change through the time that infants suckle. We measured the orientation, activity and contractile patterns of five muscles active during infant feeding from early infancy until weaning using a pig model. Muscles not aligned with the long axis of the body became less mediolaterally orientated with age. However, the timing of activation and the contractile patterns of those muscles exhibited little change, although variation was larger in you

SUBMITTER: Mayerl CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7944089 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature