Stereological and morphometric studies of mammalian myocardium: a review
Institute of Histology and Embryology, University Medical Faculty in Ljubljana, Slovenia
Institute of Histology and Embryology, University Medical Faculty in Ljubljana, Slovenia
Department of Pathology, University of Ulm, Germany
Abstract
This review article consists of two parts. The aim is to demonstrate the applicability of the stereological methods in cardiology. The first part briefly describes the histological and cytological structure of mammalian myocardium presented by a hierarchical model. The second part summarizes some sample articles dealing with cardiological problems and using stereological methods. Human research on autoptic and bioptic material is presented, as well as animal research on rats and other mammals, stressing the experimental investigations, which are of interest for theory and practice in human cardiology.