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Number of fiber bundles in the fetal anterior talofibular ligament

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Abstract

Purpose

For the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL), a three-fiber bundle has recently been suggested to be weaker than a single or double fiber bundle in terms of ankle plantarflexion and inversion braking function. However, the studies leading to those results all used elderly specimens. Whether the difference in fiber bundles is a congenital or an acquired morphology is important when considering methods to prevent ATFL damage. The purpose of this study was to classify the number of fiber bundles in the ATFL of fetuses.

Methods

This study was conducted using 30 legs from 15 Japanese fetuses (mean weight, 1764.6 ± 616.9 g; mean crown-rump length, 283.5 ± 38.7 mm; 8 males, 7 females. The ATFL was then classified by the number of fiber bundles: Type I, one fiber bundle; Type II, two fiber bundles; and Type III, three fiber bundles.

Results

Ligament type was Type I in 5 legs (16.7%), Type II in 21 legs (70%), and Type III in 4 legs (13.3%).

Conclusion

The present results suggest that the three fiber bundles of the structure of the ATFL may be an innate structure.

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Availability of data and materials

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to sincerely thank those who donated their bodies to science so that anatomical research could be performed. Results from such research can potentially improve patient care and increase humanity's overall knowledge. Therefore, these donors and their families deserve our highest gratitude. We also thank the technical staff members and Satoru Hirano for helping in cadaver management. This study was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (19K11358) from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Human Movement and Medical Sciences, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Shimami-cho 1398, Kita-ku, Niigata, 950-3198, Japan

    Mutsuaki Edama, Tomoya Takabayashi, Hirotake Yokota, Ryo Hirabayashi, Chie Sekine, Sae Maruyama, Mayuu Syagawa, Ryoya Togashi & Yuki Yamada

  2. Department of Developmental Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Shimane University, Izumo, Japan

    Hiroki Otani

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  1. Mutsuaki Edama
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  2. Tomoya Takabayashi
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Contributions

ME and TT contributed to the study design and data collection, and drafted the manuscript; HY, RH contributed to the data analysis and made critical revisions to the manuscript; CS, SM, RT, and YY made critical revisions to the manuscript; HO supervised the study, contributed to the analysis and interpretation of data, and made critical revisions to the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript prior to submission.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mutsuaki Edama.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from the families of all subjects. All methods were carried out in accordance with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki, and all cadavers used in the present study were legally donated for research purposes to the Kyoto University, Kyoto, and later transferred to the Shimane University, Izumo, Japan.

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Edama, M., Takabayashi, T., Yokota, H. et al. Number of fiber bundles in the fetal anterior talofibular ligament. Surg Radiol Anat 43, 2077–2081 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-021-02816-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-021-02816-4

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