Comparative Study of Brain Size Ontogeny: Marsupials and Placental Mammals

Overview

Journal Biology (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Biology

Date 2022 Jun 24

PMID 35741421

Authors

Carmen De Miguel

Arthur Saniotis

Agata Cieslik

Maciej Henneberg

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

There exists a negative allometry between vertebrate brain size and body size. It has been well studied among placental mammals but less is known regarding marsupials. Consequently, this study explores brain/body ontogenetic growth in marsupials and compares it with placental mammals. Pouch young samples of 43 koalas (), 28 possums (), and 36 tammar wallabies () preserved in a solution of 10% buffered formalin, as well as fresh juveniles and adults of 43 koalas and 40 possums, were studied. Their brain size/body size allometry was compared to that among humans, rhesus monkeys, dogs, cats, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, wild pigs, and mice. Two patterns of allometric curves were found: a logarithmic one (marsupials, rabbits, wild pigs, and guinea pigs) and a logistic one (the rest of mammals).

Citing Articles

Sanchez J, Rego L, Ospina R, Leiva V, Chesneau C, Castro C Biology (Basel). 2023; 12(7).

PMID: 37508389 PMC: 10376039. DOI: 10.3390/biology12070959.

References

Weisbecker V, Goswami A . Brain size, life history, and metabolism at the marsupial/placental dichotomy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010; 107(37):16216-21. PMC: 2941275. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0906486107. View

Darlington R, Dunlop S, Finlay B . Neural development in metatherian and eutherian mammals: variation and constraint. J Comp Neurol. 1999; 411(3):359-68. View

Agrawal H, Davis J, HIMWICH W . Water content of dog brain parts in relation to maturation of the brain. Am J Physiol. 1968; 215(4):846-8. DOI: 10.1152/ajplegacy.1968.215.4.846. View

KRETSCHMANN H, Kammradt G, Krauthausen I, Sauer B, Wingert F . Brain growth in man. Bibl Anat. 1986; (28):1-26. View

Agrawal H, Davis J, HIMWICH W . Water content of developing kitten brain. J Neurochem. 1967; 14(2):179-81. DOI: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.1967.tb05890.x. View

Assaf Y, Bouznach A, Zomet O, Marom A, Yovel Y . Conservation of brain connectivity and wiring across the mammalian class. Nat Neurosci. 2020; 23(7):805-808. DOI: 10.1038/s41593-020-0641-7. View

Dobbing J, Sands J . Quantitative growth and development of human brain. Arch Dis Child. 1973; 48(10):757-67. PMC: 1648530. DOI: 10.1136/adc.48.10.757. View

Stolzenburg J, Reichenbach A, Neumann M . Size and density of glial and neuronal cells within the cerebral neocortex of various insectivorian species. Glia. 1989; 2(2):78-84. DOI: 10.1002/glia.440020203. View

Zilles K . [Biometric analysis of fresh volumes of various prosencephalic brain regions in 78 human adult brains]. Gegenbaurs Morphol Jahrb. 1972; 118(2):234-73. View

10.

Bonney K, Wynne C . Studies of learning and problem solving in two species of Australian marsupials. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2004; 28(6):583-94. DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.08.005. View

11.

Dos Santos S, Porfirio J, da Cunha F, Manger P, Tavares W, Pessoa L . Cellular Scaling Rules for the Brains of Marsupials: Not as "Primitive" as Expected. Brain Behav Evol. 2017; 89(1):48-63. DOI: 10.1159/000452856. View

12.

Harel S, Watanabe K, Linke I, Schain R . Growth and development of the rabbit brain. Biol Neonate. 1972; 21(5):381-99. DOI: 10.1159/000240527. View

13.

Chavan A, Griffith O, Wagner G . The inflammation paradox in the evolution of mammalian pregnancy: turning a foe into a friend. Curr Opin Genet Dev. 2017; 47:24-32. DOI: 10.1016/j.gde.2017.08.004. View

14.

Halley A . Minimal variation in eutherian brain growth rates during fetal neurogenesis. Proc Biol Sci. 2017; 284(1854). PMC: 5443945. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.0219. View

15.

Montgomery S, Mundy N, Barton R . Brain evolution and development: adaptation, allometry and constraint. Proc Biol Sci. 2016; 283(1838). PMC: 5031648. DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0433. View

16.

Henneberg M, Saniotis A . Evolutionary origins of human brain and spirituality. Anthropol Anz. 2010; 67(4):427-38. DOI: 10.1127/0003-5548/2009/0032. View

17.

Hawkes K, Finlay B . Mammalian brain development and our grandmothering life history. Physiol Behav. 2018; 193(Pt A):55-68. DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.01.013. View

18.

De Souza S, Dobbing J . Cerebral edema in developing brain. I. Normal water and cation content in developing rat brain and postmortem changes. Exp Neurol. 1971; 32(3):431-8. DOI: 10.1016/0014-4886(71)90009-4. View

19.

Haug H . Brain sizes, surfaces, and neuronal sizes of the cortex cerebri: a stereological investigation of man and his variability and a comparison with some mammals (primates, whales, marsupials, insectivores, and one elephant). Am J Anat. 1987; 180(2):126-42. DOI: 10.1002/aja.1001800203. View

20.

Brown P . Recent human evolution in East Asia and Australasia. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1992; 337(1280):235-42. DOI: 10.1098/rstb.1992.0101. View