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PALAIOS

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Skeletal Function and Form: Mechanobiology of Skeletal Development, Aging, and Regeneration

¹ Department of Geology, Macalester College, St. Paul, MN 55105

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SKELETAL FUNCTION AND FORM: MECHANOBIOLOGY OF SKELETAL DEVELOPMENT, AGING, AND REGENERATION

Dennis R. Carter and Gary S. Beaupré, 2001, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 318 p. (Hardcover $80.00) ISBN: 0 521 79000 X.

Dermal bone formed in the craniopharyngeal region of jawless fish approximately 500 million years ago, and in relatively short order (at least from a geological perspective), perichondral and endochondral bone developed as well. These durable skeletal tissues, with their generally positive propensity for preservation, have provided fodder for generations of vertebrate paleontologists. Indeed, the long and diverse history of the Vertebrata is written largely in tooth and bone, with additional insights gained via molecular data and occasional tracks in stone.

In their book Skeletal Function and Form, Dennis Carter and Gary Beaupré focus on the vertebrate skeleton from the viewpoint of the mechanobiologist, and they explore the interplay between genetic and epigenetic factors in the evolution of the skeletal system. They view mechanobiology as a regulatory process that impacts the development of the vertebrate skeleton via mechanical stimuli. Mechanical forces regulate skeletal development throughout ontogeny at a variety of levels (organ, tissue, cellular, and molecular), and genes and mechanical forces . . . [Full Text of this Article]