May 2017 Vol. 5 No.5

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Original Research Article

Phenotypic Variations of Ear Lobule among Students in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Nouf Saeed Al-Abbas¹, Wafaa Saadeldin², Soad Shaker Ali^2,3 and Gamal Karrouf^4,5*

¹Biotechnology Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
²Department of Anatomy (Cytology and Histology), Faculty of Medicine, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia and Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt.
³Department of Histology, Faculty of Medicine, Assuit University, Assuit 71515, Egypt.
⁴Faculty of Science, Medical Physics Department, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia.
⁵Department of Surgery, Anesthesiology & Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Mansoura University, 35516 Mansoura, Egypt

*Corresponding Author’s E-mail: drgamalkarrouf1966@gmail.com gkarrouf@kau.edu.sa
Tel.: 00966595859168 – 00201009016696

Accepted May 09, 2017

Abstract

The study was conducted to determine the prevalence of the ear lobule phenotypic variations being free or attached between Saudi students in Jeddah. The association of each type with tongue rolling ability, blood group; A, B, O, AB and the presence of either type of ear lobule pattern in the family generation; first, second and third generations. A Questionnaire was designed to collect data required for the research. It included personal information, family history, ear lobule pattern and also measurement of the upper and lower level of ear auricle. The students were selected on the basis of cluster random Sample technique. The questionnaire was distributed among 121 students.105 (86.7%) of students from medical and paramedical colleges and 16 (13.2%) from secondary school. The results revealed (82.6%) had free ear lobule, while (17.4%) had attached ear lobule. It was observed that the majority of students had free ear lobule, (60%) students had ability to roll the tongue, (46.3%) had blood group O, (76.9%) had oval shaped ear and (76.5%) had their pinna in true anatomical location. It thus appeared that the inheritance of ear lobe pattern is independent of other phenotypic variables. Regarding to the inheritance of trait from parents, 92% of students with free ear lobule have their mothers with the same phenotype while the fathers of (93%) students with free ear lobule had the same ear lobule phenotype. In case of students having attached ear lobule the percentage of this trait was similar in both fathers and mothers. The present study indicated that the inheritance of ear lobule pattern is independent of other phenotypic variables also it have a significant concern in clinical field as it can provide an idea about the blood group in relation to the different ear lobule pattern.

Keywords: Ear Lobule, Phenotypic Variations, Random Sample, Students