2. American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics Moss 9
Volume 112, No. 1
biologic cellular network theory, permit the presen- cephalic growth, at the gross anatomic level, and it
tation of this latest revision. 7-1° had two explanatory constraints: methodologic and
hierarchical.
THE CONCEPTUAL AND A N A T O M I C BASES OF 1. Methodologic constraint. Macroscopic mea-
THE REVISED FMH
surements, which use the techniques of point
A comprehensible revision of the FMH should mechanics and arbitrary reference frames, e.g.,
indicate (a) those portions that are retained, ex- roentgenographic cephalometry, permitted only
tended or discarded, and (b) which prior deficien- method-specific descriptions that cannot be struc-
cies are now resolved. turally detailed. This constraint was removed by
Although the principal FMH concepts are either the continuum mechanics techniques of the finite
generally known or easily available, 1'11-18 three are element method (FEM) 6'1921 and of the related
of particular resonance for this revision. macro and boundary element methods. 9,22
The developmental origin of all cranial skeletal This penultimate FEM revision added objective,
elements (e.g., skeletal units) and all their subsequent reference-frame-invariant, fine-grained, and con-
changes in size and shape (e.g., form) and location, as ceptually integrated descriptions of the quantitative
well as their maintenance in being, are always, without aspects of localized cephalic growth kinematics to
exception, secondary, compensatory, and mechanically the earlier qualitative (phenomenologic) descrip-
obligatory responses to the temporally and operation- tions of growth dynamics. 4,6,9
ally prior demands of their related cephalic nonskel- 2. Hierarchical constraint. However, even that
etal cells, tissues, organs, and operational volumes version's descriptions did not extend "downward" to
(e.g., the functional matrices). processes at the cellular, subcellular, or molecular
More precisely, the FMH claims that epigenetic, structural domains, or extend "upwards" to the
extraskeletal factors and processes are the prior, multicellular processes by which bone tissues re-
proximate, extrinsic, and primary cause of all adap- spond to lower level signals. All prior FMH versions
tive, secondary responses of skeletal tissues and were "suspended" or "sandwiched" as it were, be-
organs? It follows that the responses of the skeletal tween these two hierarchical levels.
unit (bone and cartilage) cells and tissues are not Explicitly, the FMH could not describe either
directly regulated by informational content of the how extrinsic, epigenetic FM stimuli are transduced
intrinsic skeletal cell genome per se. Rather, this into regulatory signals by individual bone cells, or
additional, extrinsic, epigenetic information is cre- how individual cells communicate to produce coor-
ated by functional matrix operations. dinated multicellular responses.
The F M H postulates two types of functional At the lower cellular or molecular levels, another
matrices: periosteal and capsularJ 6'17 The former, problem exists. Almost uniformly, experimental and
typified by skeletal muscles, regulates the histologi- theoretical studies of bone adaptation consider only
cally observable active growth processes of skeletal the unicellular, unimolecular, or unigenomic levels.
tissue adaptation. Accordingly, their results and derivative hypotheses
This new version deals only with the responses to generally are not extensible to higher multicellular,
periosteal matrices. It now includes the molecular and tissue, levels.
cellular processes underlying the triad of active skele- Consequently, in prior FMH versions, significant
tal growth processes: deposition, resorption, and main- disjunctions exist between the descriptions at each
tenance. Histologic studies of actively adapting osse- of the several levels of bone organization. Such a
ous tissues demonstrate that (1) adjacent adaptational hiatus is implicit in hierarchical theory in which the
tissue surfaces simultaneously show deposition, re- attributes of successively higher levels are not simply
sorption, and maintenance; (2) adaptation is a tissue the sum of lower level attributes. Rather, at each
process. Deposition and maintenance are functions of higher level, new and more complex structural and
relatively large groups (cohorts, compartments) of operational attributes arise that cannot be pre-
homologous osteoblasts, never single cells; and (3) a dicted, even from a complete knowledge of those of
sharp demarcation exists between adjacent cohorts of the lower levels23; e.g., the sum of all lower at-
active, depository, and quiescent (resting) osteoblasts. tributes (biophysical, biochemical, genomic) of a
bone cell cannot predict the higher attributes of a
Constraints of the FMH
bone tissue.
Initially, the FMH ~,2 provided only qualitative At present, no unitary hypothesis provides a
narrative descriptions of the biologic dynamics of comprehensive, coherent and integrated description
3. 10 Moss American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
July 1997
of all the processes and mechanisms involved in generally evoke one; (3) osseous signal transmission
bone growth, remodeling, adaptation, and mainte- is aneural, whereas all other mechanosensational
nance at all structural levels. This newest FMH signals use some afferent neural pathways28.41; and,
version, presented herein, transcends some hierar- (4) the evoked bone adaptational responses are
chical constraints and permits seamless descriptions confined within each "bone organ" independently,
at, and between, the several levels of bone structure e.g., within a femur, so there is no necessary "inter-
and operation-from the genomic to the organ level. bone" or organismal involvement.
It does so by the inclusion of two complementary This process translates the information content
concepts: (1) that mechanotransduction occurs in of a periosteal functional matrix stimulus into a
single bone cells, and (2) that bone cells are com- skeletal unit cell signal, for example, it moves infor-
putational elements that function multicellularly as mation hierarchically downward to the osteocytes.
a connected cellular network. There are two, possibly complementary, skeletal
It is useful to present the database and derivative cellular mechanotransductive processes: ionic and
theories, supportive of the inclusion of these two mechanical.
concepts individually in a series of two coordinated Ionic or electrical processes. This involves some
articles: the first on mechanotransduction and the process(es) of ionic transport through the bone cell
second on connected cellular networks. (osteocytic) plasma membrane. There is a subse-
quent intercellular transmission of the created ionic
Mechanotransduction
or electrical signals that, in turn, are computed by
All vital ceils are "irritable" or perturbed by and the operation of an osseous connected cellular
respond to alterations in their external environment. network (CCN), as described in the second article in
Mechanosensing processes enable a cell to sense this series. That network's output regulates the
and to respond to extrinsic loadings, a widespread multicellular bone cell responses. 1°,42
biologic attribute, 24-32 by using the processes of Although no consensual agreement exists, osteo-
mechanoreception and of mechanotransduction. cytic, ionic-mechanotransduction may involve sev-
The former transmits an extracellular physical stim- eral, possibly parallel, cellular processes.
ulus into a receptor cell; the latter transduces or Stretch-activated channels. Several types of defor-
transforms the stimulus's energetic and/or informa- mation may occur in strained bone tissue. One of
tional content into an intracellular signal. Mechano- these involves the plasma membrane stretch-acti-
transduction33 is one type of cellular signal transduc- vated (S-A) ion channels, a structure found in bone
tion. 34-36 There are several mechanotransductive cells, 43-46 in many other cell types,25 and significantly
processes, for example, mechanoelectrical and in fibroblasts. 4v When activated in strained osteo-
mechanochemical. Whichever are used, bone adap- cytes, they permit passage of a certain sized ion or
tation requires the subsequent intercellular trans- set of ions, including K +, Ca 2+, Na +, and CS+. 46'48-50
mission of the transduced signals. Such ionic flow may, in turn, initiate intracellular
electrical events, for example, bone cell S-A chan-
Osseous Mechanotransduetion
nels may modulate membrane potential as well as
Static37 and dynamic3s loadings are continuously Ca 2+ ion fluxY ,5~ Other bone cell mechanically
applied to bone tissues, tending to deform both stimulatory processes have been suggested.52
extracellular matrix and bone cells. When an appro- Rough estimates of osteocytic mechanoreceptor
priate stimulus parameter exceeds threshold values, strain sensitivity have been made, 1°,53 and the calcu-
the loaded tissue responds by the triad of bone cell lated values cover the morphogenetically significant
adaptation processes. Both osteocytes and osteo- strain range of 1000 to 3000 txe in the literature. 54-56
blasts are competent for intracellular stimulus re- Electrical processes. These include several, non-
ception and transduction and for subsequent inter- exclusive mechanotransductive processes (e.g., elec-
cellular signal transmission. Osteoblasts directly tromechanical and electrokinetic), involving the
regulate bone deposition and maintenance and in- plasma membrane and extracellular fluids. Electric
directly regulate osteoclastic resorption. 39,4° field strength may also be a significant parameterF
Osseous mechanotransduction is unique in four
ways: (1) Most other mechanosensory cells are 1. Electromechanical. As in most cells, the osteo-
cytologically specialized, but bone cells are not; (2) cytic plasma membrane contains voltage-acti-
one bone-loading stimulus can evoke three adapta- vated ion channels, and transmembrane ion
tional responses, whereas nonosseous processes flow may be a significant osseous mechano-
4. American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics Moss 11
Volume 112, No. 1
transductive p r o c e s s . 58'59'6°-62 It is also possi- alternative means by which periosteal functional
ble that such ionic flows generate osteocytic matrix activity may regulate hierarchically lower
action potentials capable of transmission level bone cell genomic functions.
through gap junctions. 63 The mechanical properties of the extracellular
2. Electrokinetic. Bound and unbound electric matrix influence cell behavior. 71 Loaded mineral-
charges exist in bone tissue, many associated ized bone matrix tissue is deformed or strained.
with the bone fluid(s) in the several osseous Recent data indicate that a series of extracellular
spaces or compartments. 42,64 It is generally macromolecular mechanical levers exist, capable of
agreed that electrical effects in fluid-filled transmitting information from the strained matrix to
bone are not piezoelectric, but rather of elec- the bone cell nuclear membrane.
trokinetic, that is, streaming potential (SP) The basis of this mechanism is the physical
origin. 42'65'66 The SP is a measure of the continuity of the transmembrane molecule integrin.
strain-generated potential (SGP) of con- This molecule is connected extracellularly with the
vected electric charges in the fluid flow of macromolecular collagen of the organic matrix and
deformed bone. The usually observed SPG of intracellularly with the cytoskekeletal actin. The
+2 mV can initiate both osteogenesis and molecules of the latter, in turn, are connected to the
osteocytic action potentials. 66'67 nuclear membrane, at which site the action of the
3. Electric field strength. Bone responds to exog- mechanical lever chain previously noted initiates a
enous electrical fields. 68 Although the extrin- subsequent series of intranuclear processes regula-
sic electrical parameter is unclear, field tory of genomic activity. 72-75 (See Shapiro et al., 76 for
strength may play an important role. 69 A vimentin, and Green 77 for a general discussion of
significant parallel exists between the param- biophysical transductions.)
eters of these exogenous electrical fields 68,69
It is suggested that such a cytoskeletal lever
and the endogenous fields produced by mus- chain, connecting to the nuclear membrane, can
cle activity. Bone responds to exogenous elec- provide a physical stimulus able to activate the
trical fields in an effective range of 1 to 10 osteocytic genome, 78 possibly by first stimulating the
ixV/cm, strengths that are "...on the order of
activity of such components as the cfos
those endogenously produced in bone tissue genes.36,73, 78-86
during normal (muscle) activity "7° (italics
It is by such an interconnected physical chain of
mine).
molecular levers that periosteal functional matrix
Mechanical processes. Although it is probable activity may regulate the genomic activity of its
that the intracellular, transductive process discussed strained skeletal unit bone cells, including their
later does not initiate action potentials, it is an phenotypic expression.
6. 222 Moss American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
August 1997
massively parallel or parallel-distributed signal pro- sentation of CCN is redundant, assuring that the
cessing occurs. 1°3-m5It computationally processes, in a network is fault or error tolerant, i.e, one or several
multiprocessor network mode, the intercellular signals inoperative cells causes little or no noticeable loss in
created by an electrical type of mechanotransduction network operations, 112 a matter of useful clinical
of periosteal functional matrix stimuli. Subsequently significance.
the computed network output informational signals The CCNs show oscillation, i.e., iterative recip-
move hierarchically "upward" to regulate the skeletal rocal signaling (feedback) between layers. This at-
unit adaptational responses of the osteoblasts. tribute enables them to adjustively self-organize.
Fortunately, the bases of connectionist theory This behavior is related to the fact that biologic
are Sufficiently secure to permit modeling of a CCNs are not preprogrammed; rather they learn by
biologically realistic osseous C C N . 1°6-11° It consists unsupervised or epigenetic "training, ''114 a process
of a number of relatively simple, densely intercon- probably involving structural or conformational
nected processing elements (bone cells), with many changes in the cytoskeleton. 83 The phenomena of
more interconnections than cells. It is useful that both network "training" and "learning" are related
bone cells form a network because individual recep- to the suggested effects of the oscillatory nature of
tors cannot code unambiguously-only a population their strain history. 115 Accordingly, the structurally
of cells can do SO. 103 more complex network attributes and behavior of a
In network theory, these cells are organized into CCN gradually or epigenetically self-organize and
"layers": an initial input, a final output, and one or emerge during operation. These network attributes
more intermediate or "hidden" layers. Importantly, are not reducible, i.e., they are neither apparent nor
such networks need not be numerically complex to predictable from a prior knowledge of the attributes
be operationally complex. H~ The operational pro- of individual cells.
cesses are identical, in principle, for all bone cells in Gap junctions, permitting bidirectional flow of
all layers. Regardless of the actual physiological information, are the cytological basis for the oscil-
stipulatory process, each cell in any layer may simul- latory behavior of a CCN. All the osteoblasts of a
taneously receive several "weighted" inputs (stimu- cohort engaged in an identical adaptation process
li). A weight is some quantitative attribute. In the are interconnected by open gap junctions. The pres-
initial layer, these represent the loadings. Within ence of sharp histological discontinuities between
each cell independently, " . . . all the weighted inputs cohorts of phenotypically different osteoblasts is
are then summed. ''112 This sum is then compared, related to their ability to close gap junctions at the
within the cell, against some liminal or threshold boundaries between such cohorts, and so prevent
value. If this value is exceeded, an intracellular the flow of information. 116,1~7 Informational net-
signal is generated, i.e., successful mechanotrans- works also can transmit inhibitory signals, a signifi-
duction occurs. This signal is then transmitted iden- cant matter beyond present concerns. 118
tically to all the "hidden" layer cells (adjacent osteo- A skeletal CCN displays the following attributes:
cytes) to which each initial layer cell is connected by (1) Developmentally, it is an untrained self-orga-
gap junctions (and there are many styles of connec- nized, self-adapting and epigenetically regulated sys-
tivity). Next, similar processes of weighted signal tem. (2) Operationally, it is a stable, dynamic system
summation, comparison, and transmission occur in that exhibits oscillatory behavior permitting feed-
these intermediate layers until the final layer cells back. It operates in a noisy, nonstationary environ-
(osteoblasts) are reached. The outputs of these ment, and probably uses useful and necessary inhib-
anatomically superficial cells determines the site, itory inputs. (3) Structurally, an osseous CCN is
rate, direction, magnitude, and duration of the nonmodular, i.e., the variations in its organization
specific adaptive response, i.e., deposition, resorp- permit discrete processing of differential signals. It is
tion, and/or maintenance, of each cohort of osteo- this attribute that permits the triad of histologic
blasts. ~13 responses to a unitary loading event.
Information is not stored discretely in a CCN, as Certain simplifications exist in this article, as in
it is in a conventional, single CPU computer. Rather most of the bone literature. It is assumed that bone
it is distributed across all or part of the network, and cells are organized in only two dimensions, bone
several types of information may be stored simulta- loadings occur only at discrete loci, and gradients of
neously. The instantaneous state of a CCN is a strain are not considered. However, biologic reality
property of the state of all its cells and of all their is otherwise. In a loaded three-dimensional bone
connections. Accordingly, the informational repre- volume, gradients of deformation must exist, and
7. American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics I~[OSS ~
Volume t12, No. 2
each osteocyte probably senses uniquely different Skeletal muscle contraction is a typical perios-
strain properties. Further, it is probable that each teal functional matrix loading event, 13,14A6,12°,134'135
osteocyte is potentially able to transmit three differ- and frequency is one of its critical parameters.
ent adaptational signals, in three different direc- Although the fundamental frequency of contracting
tions-some stimulatory and some inhibitory. How- muscle is about 2 Hz, other strain-related harmonics
ever, these processes have not yet been adequately of 15 to 40 Hz exist.
modeled. The role of pe1~osteal functional matrices: These higher-order frequencies, significantly
new insight. related to bone adaptational responses, are
The morphogenetic primacy of periosteal func- " . . . present within the [muscle contraction] strain
tional matrices on their skeletal units is consensually energy spectra regardless of animal or activity and
accepted. As a muscular demand alters, e.g., myec- implicate the dynamics of muscle contraction as the
tomy, myotomy, neurectomy, exercise, hypertrophy, source of this energy band" (italics mine). 68,132'~36 Of
hyperplasia, atrophy, augmentation, or reposition- particular significance to the FMH is the close
ing, the triad of active bone growth processes cor- similarity of muscle stimulus frequencies to bone
respondingly adapts the form of its specifically re- tissue response frequencies.
lated skeletal unit.
Presently excluding the stimulation of neural MECHANOTRANSDUCTION: A TENTATIVE
afferents in muscle, tendon, and periosteum, extrin- SYNTHESIS
sic physical loadings tend to deform bone tissue and The previously mentioned data suggest that the
to invoke skeletal unit (bone) adaptation responsive ability of periosteal functional matrices to regulate
processes. A classic example is the regulation of the adaptive responses of their skeletal units by ionic
coronoid process form by the temporalis muscle.~9 mechanotransductive processes is related to several
The tension in the tendon of this contracted muscle, factors. These are that (a) normal muscle function
transmitted through intertwined periosteal fibers strains attached bone tissue intermittently; (b) the
inserted into subjacent bone, deforms the loaded dynamics of skeletal muscle contraction fit rather
skeletal unit. 12° nicely with the energetic requirements for bone cell
Although some periosteal osteoNasts may be responsiveness; (c) the range of specific strain-
directly stimulated, ~2~ extant data suggest osteocytic frequency harmonics of muscle dynamics are also
primacy in mechanosensory processes. ~22 Anatomi- those found to be morphogenetically competent
cally, bone cells are competent mechanoreceptors. (i.e., osteoregulatory); (d) normal skeletal muscle
Their three-dimensional array of extensive canalic- activity produces intraosseous electric fields on the
ular cell processes is architecturally well-suited to order of extrinsic fields found to be similarly mor-
sense deformation of the mineralized matrixJ 23 phogenetic; and, (e) bone cells may be stimulated by
Although no one mechanical parameter reliably two mechanisms-directly by strain-activated plasma
predicts all bone adaptational or remodeling re- membrane channels and indirectly by electrokinen-
sponses, 124strain probably plays the primary role 125-128 tic phenomena.
and is a competent stimulus. 51 The significant strain These factors strongly suggest a rather precise
attribute may vary with specific conditions. 129 These matching of significant operational characteristics
include: (a) loading category-bone responds best to between a contracting skeletal muscle stimulus and
dynamic rather static loading54; (b) frequency-osteo- the ability of loaded bone cells to transduce this into
cytes may be physiologically "tuned" to the frequencies signals capable of regulating their adaptive re-
of muscle function, 13°132 tunings being analogous to sponses. In a phrase, bone appears to be closely
those of specialized nonosseous sensory cells,34,35 e.g., "tuned" to skeletal muscle, i.e., skeletal units are
auditory hair cells; and (c) magnitude-relatively small tuned to their periosteal functional matrices.
microstrains (txe) (about 10-6 mm/mm), and strain When both the ionic membrane and the me-
magnitudes of 2000 + 1000 ge, are morphogenetically chanical (molecular lever) transductive processes
competent.55,56,129.~33 are conceptually and operationally combined with
Although it is reasonably presumed that mech- the data of both electric field effects and of contrac-
anosensory processes, of both the ionic and mechan- tion frequency energetics, they provide a logically
ical type, involve the plasma membrane of the sufficient biophysical basis of support for the hy-
osteocytic soma or canalicular processes, the recep- pothesis of epigenetic regulation of skeletal tissue
tive, and subsequent transductive, processes are adaptation 1,13,16-1s,38,129,137
neither well understood nor consensually agreed on. In reality, it is probable that the ionic (electrical)
8. 224 Moss American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
August 1997
and mechanical (molecular lever) transductive pro- 16. Moss ML, Salentijn L. The primary role of the functional matrices in facial
growth. Arn J Orthod 1969;55:566-77.
cesses in osteocytes are neither exhaustive nor mu- 17. Moss ML, Salentijn L. The capsular matrix. Am J Orthod 1969;56:474-90.
tually exclusive. While using differing intermediate 18. Moss ML, Young R. A functional approach to craniology. Am J Phys Anthrop
1960;18:281-92.
membrane mechanisms or processes, they share a 19. Skalak R, Dasgupta G, Moss ML, Otten E, Dullemeijer P, Vilmann H. A
common final common pathway, i.e., they eventually conceptual framework for the analytical description of growth. J Theor Biol
1982;94:555-77.
produce signals regulatory of osteoblastic activity. 20. Skalak R, Dasgupta G, Moss ML, Patel H, Sen K, Moss-Salentijn L. The
Certainly in the ionic processes, and possibly in the application of the finite element method to the analysis of craniofacial growth and
form. Am J Orthod 1985;87:453-72.
molecular lever system mechanism, the transductive 21. Moss ML, Moss-Salentijn L, Skalak R. Finite element modeling of craniofacial
process(es) also cause a transplasma membrane growth and development. In: Graber L, editor. Orthodontics: stepping stones to
the future. St Louis: CV Mosby 1986:143-68.
ionic flow(s), creating a signal(s) capable of inter- 22. McAlarney M, Dasgupta G, Moss ML, Moss-Salentijn L. Anatomical macroele-
cellular transmission to neighboring bone cells ments in the study of craniofacial rat growth. J Craniofac Genet Dev Biol
1992;12:3-12.
through gap junctions, 1~1 and then subsequent bio- 23. Pattee HH. Hiera~'chy theory: the challenge of complex systems. New York:
logic computation in an osseous CCN. G.Baziller, 1973.
24. Goldsmith P. Plant stems: a possible model system for the transduction of
mechanical information in bone modeling. Bone 1994;15:249-50.
25. French AS. Mechanotransduction. Ann Rev Physiol 1992;54:135-52.
CONCLUSION 26. Kernan M, Cowan D, Zuker C. Genetic dissection of mechanoreception-defective
Where the original FMH version offered only verbal mutations in Drosophila. Neuron 1994;12:1195-206.
27. Hamill OP, McBride DW Jr. Mechanoreceptive membrane channels. Am Scien-
descriptions of periosteal matrix function and skeletal unit tist 1995;83:30-7.
response, the addition to the FMH of the concepts of 28. Hackney CM, Furness DN. Mechanotransduetion in vertebrate hair cells: struc-
ture and function of the stereociliary bundle. Am J Physiol 1995;268:C1-13.
mechanotransduction and of computational bone biology 29. Fraser D J, Macdonald AG. Crab hydrostatic pressure sensors. Nature 1994;371:
offers an explanatory chain extending from the epigenetic 383-4.
event of skeletal muscle contraction, hierarchically down- 30. Olsson S, Hanson BS. Action potentiablike activity found in fungal rnycelia is
sensitive to stimulation. Naturwissch 1995;82:30-1.
ward, through the cellular and molecular levels to the 31. Cut C, Smith DO, Adler J. Characterization of mechanosensitive channels in
bone cell genome, and then upward again, through histo- Eschericia colt cytoplasmic cell membrane by whole-cell patch clamp recording. J
logic levels to the event of gross bone form adaptational Membr Biol 1995;144:31-42.
32. Wildron De, Thain JF, Minchin P, Gubb I, Reilly A, Skipper Y, et al. Electrical
changes. Analyzing size and shape changes by reference- signaling and systematic proteinase inhibitor induction in the wounded planL
frame-invariant, finite element methods produces a more Nature 1992;360:62-5.
33. Mayer EA. Signal transduetion and intercellular communication. In: Walsh JH,
comprehensive and integrated description of the totality Dockray G J, editors. Gut peptides: biochemistry and physiology. New York:
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JH, Jessel TM, editors. Principles of neural science. 3rd. ed. New York: Elsevier,
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126. Cowin SC. Bone biomechanics. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 1989a. 195-202.
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12. American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics Moss 339
Volume 112, No. 3
ple, Chiclid fish are polyphyodont (have continu- with the empirical data of animal breeders, it earlier
ously replacing dental sets) and can exhibit pro- provided a theoretical basis for certain human eu-
nounced dental phenotypic plasticity.44 When the genic theories proposing reproductive inhibition for
fish are fed on hard-shelled mollusks, the replacing individuals with "undesirable and genetically (chro-
teeth are large and molariform, but when soft mosomally) regulated" medical and social condi-
food is fed, those teeth are gracile, conical, and tions: a policy that eventually reached historical
nonmolariform. Experimentally in aquaria, the two genocidal depths. 56,57
phenotypic states may be repeatedly and arbitrarily Later, the blending of the classical chromosomal
alternated in succeeding dental generations by alter- and vertebrate paleontological disciplines created
nately changing the diet's consistency. Because each the neo-Darwinian synthesis, a currently accepted
dental replacement cycle involves identical odonto- paradigm of phylogenetic regulation. 58
genic stages, it is postulated that (1) mechanical Recently, molecular (gene) genetics extended
forces, related to differential diet "hardness," gen- the claims of the thesis to the regulation of all aspects
erate epigenetic signals, mechanotransductively pro- of ontogeny (i.e., of "growth and development").
cessed by dental papilla cellsg.l°; and (2) these The mega-human genome project, 59,6°~61called "the
signals control at least the temporal and spatial ultimate triumph of genetics, ''4s explicitly intends to:
expression of genomic products related to the de- (1) describe the complete human genome; (2) dem-
velopment of differential tooth form, such as size onstrate genomic controls of all developmental pro-
and shape. 45-47 cesses, at all structural levels, from the subcellular to
If the epigenetic/genomic dichotomy of odonto- the organismal; and, (3) in a societal context, possi-
genetic regulation is unresolved, how much more so bly lead to some type of neoeugenics.
the complex topic of cephalic morphogenesis where, Many human activities now are claimed to be
parenthetically, mechanical loadings also play a genomically regulated: e.g., psychological behav-
significant regulatory role. 15 ior6Z; personality63; alcohol and drug abuse64; chro-
nobiological cyclic behaviors65; smoking, obesity,
The Genomic Thesis alcoholism, drug abuse, food-binging--indeed any
The genomic thesis holds that the genome, from attention-deficiency disorder, 66 among many others.
the moment of fertilization, contains all the infor- The further suggestion of genomic control of intel-
mation necessary to regulate (cause, control, direct) ligence generates prodigious, biomedical contro-
(1) the intranuclear formation and transcription of versy in the social sciences and politics. 67 And note
mRNA and (2) importantly, without the later addi- the frequent popular press reports of the "discov-
tion of any other information, to regulate also all of ery" of yet another "gene" that "controls" yet an-
the intracellular and intercellular processes of sub- other developmental, physiological, psychological,
sequent, and structurally more complex, cell, tissue, or sociological event, process, or state.
organ, and organismal morphogenesisa'2,48: suc-
The Biologic Bases for the Genomic Thesis
cinctly, "all (phenotype) features are ultimately de-
termined by the DNA sequence of the genome. ''49 While comprehensively considered else-
In this thesis, morphogenesis is but the prede- brief review is useful. The somatic
w h e r e , 48,49,53 a
termined reading-out of an intrinsic and inherited cells of an individual metazoan inherit two classes of
genomic organismal blueprint 48'49'5°'51'52 where, in molecular information: (1) an identical diploid
addition to molecular synthesis, the genome also DNA and (2) the maternal cytoplasmic constituents
regulates the geometric attributes of cell, tissue, of the egg: e.g., mitochondria, cytoskeleton, mem-
organ, and organismal size, shape, and location. For branes. Only approximately 10% of the genome
example, "specific patterns of gene regulation seems related to phenotypic ontogenesis, whereas
(cause, control, regulate, determine) the mecha- the human genome has approximately 100,000
nisms by which a fertilized egg divides and genes, "well over 90% ... does not encode precur-
progresses through the various decision points to sors to mRNAs or any other RNA. ''53 With regard
yield groups of cells that are first determined to to individual phenotypic structural attributes, while
become and then actually differentiate to become all somatic cells commonly share approximately
specialized tissues of the right dimension and in the 5000 different polypeptide chains, each specific cell
proper location. ''s3 type is characterized only by approximately 100
The genomic thesis originated with classical specific proteins. And it is claimed that "these
(chromosomal) Mendelian genetics, s4,55 Combined quantitative (protein) differences are related to dif-
13. 340 Moss American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
September 1997
ferences in cell size, shape and internal architec- craniofacial development is controlled by two inter-
ture. ''s3 related, temporally sequential, processes: (1) initial
The encoding 10% of the DNA exists in two regulatory (homeobox) gene activity and (2) subse-
families; the vastly preponderant "housekeeping" quent activity of two regulatory molecular groups:
genes and the nonabundant "structural" genes. The growth factor families and steroid/thyroid/retinoic
former regulate the normal molecular synthesis of acid super-family. For example, "homeobox genes
agents involved in (1) the common energetic (met- coordinate the development of complex craniofacial
abolic, respiratory) activities of all cells and, (2) the structures" and in "both normal and abnormal de-
specific activities of special cell types (e.g., neurons, velopment, much of the regulation of the develop-
osteoblasts, ameloblasts etc.). 52,68 ment of virtually all of the skeletal and connective
These genes also regulate the synthesis of the tissue of the face is dependent on a cascade of
specific molecular gene products, whose presence, overlapping activity of homeobox genes. ''12
absence, or abnormal molecular configuration are It is claimed that regulatory molecules can (1)
associated with the (human) pathologic conditions "alter the manner in which homeobox genes coor-
said to have a unitary genetic cause--the so-called dinate cell migration and subsequent cell interac-
Mendelian disorders and the "single-gene disorders tions that regulate growth" and (2) be involved in
with nonclassic inheritance, ''52 such as Marfan syn- the "genetic variations causing, or contributing to,
drome, achondroplasia, osteogenesis imperfecta, the abnormal development of relatively common
and Duchenne muscular dystrophy, among many craniofacial malformations . . . perhaps modifying
others. 52 For some, such "disorders provide the Hox gene activity. ''52
model on which the program of medical genetics is Specific orthodontic implications of the genomic
built. ''59 In such conditions the absence of a normal thesis include claims that "poorly coordination-
type, or the presence of a structurally abnormal ordinated control of form and size of structures, or
type, of a specific biochemical or molecular struc- groups of structures (e.g., teeth and jaws) by regu-
tural entity is sufficient to initiate the cascade of lator genes should do much to explain the very
subsequent abnormal developmental pathways, frequent mismatches found in malocclusions and
eventuating in a specific pathological state. other dentofacial deformities." And "single regula-
A physical analogy is the construction of a tory (homeobox) genes can control the development
building wall where either the proportions of the of complex structures.., indicating that single genes
concrete are incorrect or an insufficient number of can determine the morphology of at least some
metal reinforcing rods are used. In both cases, complex structures," including "how characteristic
eventual structural collapse is possible. Substitution noses or jaws are inherited from generation to
of intercellular proteoglycans, and of collagen generation. ''s2
fibrils, provides a corresponding skeletal tissue anal-
ogy. Here, alterations in the genomically regulated Critical Definitions
processes of molecular synthesis can produce an Clarification of this dichotomy is assisted by
eventual "structural collapse" at the hierarchically defining the present use of four terms: epigenetics,
higher level of a macroscopic bone. Anticipating an hierarchy, emergence, and causation.
antithesis, note here that the claim of genomic Epigenetics. Several millennia ago epigenesis de-
control of the molecular syntheses underlying the scribed the process(es) by which increasing struc-
formation of such elemental (molecular) skeletal tural complexity gradually arose from an originally
tissue "building blocks" does not substantiate the unstructured mass, for example the stages of in vivo
further claim that the genome regulates the growth chick development or the gradual appearance of a
and development (the size, shape, location and histo- pattern during weaving on a loom. 7s-81 Over time,
logical composition) of the gross anatomical bone. many alternate, often differing, definitions ap-
peared. 22,82 Earlier, they were macroscopic in scale
The Genomic Thesis in Orofacial Biology and considered only the extrinsic, extraorganismal
There is extensive support for the genomic thesis environment, such as food, light, temperature, and
in the orofacial biology literature, with most genetic radiations. 83 Nineteenth century physiology added
studies of cephalic or cranial morphogenesis explic- the intrinsic, intraorganismal milieu interieur, s4 such
itly or implicitly assuming genomic regulation of as hormones, blood gases, nutrients, and ions.
each anatomical structure. 69-77 Epigenetics, as defined here, includes (1) all of
A characteristic article 12 claims that prenatal the extrinsic (extraorganismal) factors impinging on
14. American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics Moss 341
Volume 112, No. 3
vital structures, including importantly mechanical mandibular angular process of a given 14-year-old
loadings and electroelectric states and (2) all of the male? The genomic thesis holds that this process
intrinsic (intraorganismal) biophysical, biomechani- was predetermined; i.e, that individual's osteoblastic
cal, biochemical, and bioelectric microenvironmen- genome contained, at the moment of fertilization,
tal events occurring on, in, and between individual all the information necessary to regulate where,
cells, extracellular materials, and cells and extracel- when, for how long, in what direction, in what
lular substances. amount, and at what rates, bone formation and
Hierarchy. Biological structures are hierarchically remodeling will occur in that individual, given the
organized, with structural and functional complexity absence of disease and the presence of the usual and
increasing "upward" from the ever-expanding family necessary extrinsic (environmental) factors, such as
of subatomic particles to protons, electrons, atoms, adequate nutrition, and the customary normal phys-
molecules, subcellular organelles, and on to cells, iological states, such as are presumed to exist in
tissues, organs, and organisms. 4s While a genomic physiology's hypothetical normal human.
thesis claims that each higher level is achieved by the The antithesis (and the FMH) suggests that
predetermined activity of the genomic information, epigenetic stimuli, created by operations of related
an epigenetic antithesis suggests that hierarchical functional matrices and their skeletal unit adaptive
complexity results from the functioning of epi- responses, create the "new" information sequen-
genetic processes and mechanisms, 3° as described tially, as mandibular ontogenesis proceeds. 9,1° All
in the disciplines of developmental mechanicsy ,86 ontogenesis exhibits developmental "cascades," with
self-organization, 87 complexity, and chaos, 88,89,9°,91 multiple branching points where decisions are made
among others,--topics considered further in the between alternate developmental pathways. Such
following epigenetic antithesis. decisions are not predetermined by encoded genetic
Emergence. This phenomenon occurs in all nat- information, but instead are responses to some
ural hierarchies. It consists of the appearance, at epigenetic stimulus(i). Hierarchy, emergence, and
each successively higher and structurally and/or causation are topics of the greatest significance in
operationally more complex level, of new attributes any critique of the genomic hypothesis, because the
or properties, not present in the lower levels, whose scope and content of molecular genetics is precisely
existence or functions could not in any way be that; it deals with only the molecular level of struc-
predicted, even from a complete knowledge of all of tural organization. The genomic hypothesis pro-
the attributes and properties of any or all of the poses no pathways from molecules to morphogene-
preceding lower organizational levels. 92-94 sis? ° Customarily, in craniofacial literature, the
For example, full knowledge of all the attributes existence of two "facts" is stated: (1) that at the
and properties of an osteocyte does not permit molecular level, a particular gene (or group of
prediction of the attributes and properties of any genes) exists and (2) that at some higher, macro-
type of bone tissue. And full knowledge of all scopic level, some clinical state of normal growth
attributes and properties of all constituent bone and development or of malformation and/or mal-
tissue types does not permit prediction of the form function is observed. Without positing any specific
(size and shape), growth, or functions of a macro- mechanisms or processes at each intervening hier-
scopic "bone." archical level of the developmental cascade, it is
Emergence is not genomically controlled. In- simply stated that fact 1 is the cause of fact 2. For
stead, the integrated activities of all the attributes in example, "it is demonstrated that synpolydactyly, an
a given hierarchical level self-organize to produce inherited human abnormality of the hands and feet,
the next higher level of complexity. In every real is caused [italics mine] by expansions of a polyala-
sense, biologic structures "build" themselves; that is, nine stretch in the amino-terminal region of
bones do not grow, they are grown. Epigenetic HOXD13. ''97
processes and mechanisms are regulatory (causal) of In the genomic thesis morphogenesis is reduced
hierarchical organization and of emergence and to molecular synthesis.
self-organization. 95
T h e Classification of C a u s a t i o n 1t
Causation. From this vast topic, 96 we consider
only how the attributes of a given biologic structural There are four principal causes of ontogenesis:
level "cause" (control, regulate, determine) the at- material (with what?), formal (by what rules?),
tributes of the next higher level. For example, what efficient (how?), and final (why?). These may be
causes osteogenesis on the ectofacial surface the left categorized as either intrinsic (material and formal)
15. 342 Moss American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics
September 1997
and extrinsic (efficient); final cause (teleology) is not disks, and papers. The formal cause is the software:
considered further. Of importance, both material a specific word processing program, both its appar-
and formal causes are classified as prior causes, i.e., ent, user-friend form and, in reality, its ultimate
existing before the creation of some specific state or expression in machine language code. No combina-
structure. Efficient cause is proximate; i.e., its oper- tion of hardware and software could ever write an
ation immediately causes the creation of a new state article. Extrinsic, epigenetic input is required, i.e.,
or attribute. Material and formal causes are intrinsic the composition and input of the text itself. Both
because they reside within vital structure (either intrinsic causes must be present before (prior to) the
intracellularly or intercellularly); efficient causes are textual input, whereas the extrinsic, epigenetic typ-
extrinsic--they represent the entire spectrum of ing is immediately (i.e., proximately) followed by
epigenetic processes, mechanisms, and events capa- creation, on the hard disk, of the text itself.
ble of being imposed on vital structures. Both prior (intrinsic) and proximate (extrinsic)
In biology, material cause is represented by all causes are necessary causes; neither alone is a
the levels of cellular and intercellular materials, sufficient cause for the creation of this manuscript.
without reference to any specific structural (anatom- Only the two integrated together furnish the neces-
ical) arrangement. Formal cause is the genomic sary and sufficient cause.
code, i.e., a series of "rules" or "laws." These act at In ontogenesis, genomic (intrinsic, prior) and
the at the molecular level to regulate the initial epigenetic (extrinsic, proximate) factors are each a
creation of the constituents of material cause. Effi- necessary cause, but neither alone is a sufficient
cient cause(s) are the epigenetic factors, as defined cause. Only the interaction of both provides both
above, whose actions immediately regulate the next the necessary and sufficient cause of morphogene-
developmental branching point. sisJ 1 This conclusion foreshadows the resolving
A metaphor is helpful. Consider the use of a synthesis of this dichotomy, presented in the com-
computer to prepare this manuscript. The material panion article, which also contains the comprehen-
cause is the hardware: the computers, printers, sive bibliography.
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As a service to our subscribers, copies of back issues of the American Journal of
Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics for the preceding 5 years are maintained and
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