DIFFERENT PROCEDURES FOR VALUE COLLECTION IN BIOLOGICAL MORPHOMETRY AND STEREOLOGY

  • 1 January 1976
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 78  (3) , 197-220
Abstract
Each stereological or morphometrical investigation presumes a high experience in structure diagnosis. A good contrast between the structures to be evaluated is necessary, especially when using automatic measuring systems. Some suggestions are given to facilitate the object-evaluation. The stereological principles including pattern-recognition are mentioned briefly in order to understand some of the technical details. The techniques are divided into simple and advanced procedures. It is possible to evaluate using a simple counter combined off- or on-line with a computer. The advanced system can be divided into tracing instruments and photometric- and television scanning procedures. The 1st system which is manipulated by eye-control can also be called optomanual devices. These are planimetry, a type of automatic point counting, and instruments which locate the coordinates by ultrasound or a magnetic tableau. With relatively inexpensive electronics the coordinates can be transformed into stereological values. The photometric instruments and the television devices Scan-computers discriminate only between gray-steps while measuring. The 1st group works by moving either the photometric spot (flying spot) or the microscopical object-stage. The 2nd group is guided by its computer and the output immediately shows the stereological results.