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- Volume 18 (1999)
- Number 3 - Nov. 1999
- Design-based stereology of the human heart
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Design-based stereology of the human heart
Abstract
Design-based stereological methods for obtaining estimates of the sizes of myocardial fibers and the number and sizes of capillaries and myocardial fiber nuclei in human autopsy hearts are presented. Sampling of heart tissue was uniform random at all levels, also with respect to orientations for estimates of length and mean sizes as required. Global structural quantities were estimated as: total quantity : = density × volume of left ventricle. Ordinary, unbiased stereological methods were used for estimating the volume, surface area and length density of capillaries and myocardial fibers. The numerical density of fiber nuclei and capillaries were estimated using the optical disector and the physical disector, respectively. Local quantities ("size") were estimated either directly using unbiased estimators to obtain the average individual size and size distribution parameters or indirectly using the relationship: average size : = total quantity I total number. As an individual myocyte cannot be distinguished in the sections used in our studies and may be polynucleated neither individual nor average myocyte volume can be estimated unbiasedly. Several efficient and robust alternatives are, however, provided for reporting various mathematically well defined aspects of fiber size.