Digital Counting in Neuro-Morphology

Abstract

Neurons and glial cells that are main component of brain tissue are distributed in tree-dimensional space. The space exists even if within tens of micrometers-thickness slices. Sampling bias is a big problem well known when we estimate the number and distribution of cells by information from two-dimensional sections. It might be because that the large size and irregular shaped cells have a greater opportunities counted repeatedly than small and uniform one, respectively. Thus, to obtain rigorous quantitative data from two-dimensional specimens, it is necessary to estimate number and density of cells in particular brain regions by the unbiased stereological method, the disector, and a tree-dimensional counting rule. Here, we would like to show useful quantitative analyses in light and electron microscopic specimens by the disector.