Bone growth and periosteal migration control masseter muscle orientation in pigs (Sus scrofa)

During growth the muscles of mastication alter their lines of action. Research on long bones indicates that the apparent migration of muscle attachments is due to the movement of the periosteum relative to the underlying bone. To assess whether the pig masseter muscle follows the periosteum during growth, implants of titanium granules in a gelatin matrix were placed simultaneously in various parts of the masseter muscle and its periosteal and bony attachments. Growth movements of these tissues were followed radiographically for 2 months. Granule position was verified histologically. Periosteal movement was the dominant growth process at the insertion of the masseter. All implants migrated caudally relative to the mandible. However, a strong position effect was seen dorsoventrally: implants placed high in the ascending ramus migrated dorsally as well as caudally; low implants migrated only caudally. This differential migration, ascribed to the influence of the condyle, accounts for the increasing horizontal orientation of dorsal fibers. A similar differential was seen along the rostrocaudal axis of the ramus. In contrast to the insertion, the origin of the masseter from the zygomatic arch shows no periosteal movement. Rather, the entire bone-muscle complex becomes displaced by sutural growth, leading to increasing vertical orientation of the masseter. Thus two different aspects of skull growth are responsible for the change in muscle anatomy.