Stereological estimation of volume‐weighted mean glomerular volume from arbitrary sections of the equine kidney

Abstract

Mean glomerular volume has previously been estimated, using stereological techniques, specifically the pointsampled intercept (PSI), either from isotropic or from vertical sections. As glomeruli are approximately spherical structures, the same stereological technique was carried out on vertical and arbitrary sections to determine whether section orientation had any effect on mean glomerular volume estimation. Equine kidneys from 10 individuals were analysed using the PSI method of estimating volume-weighted mean glomerular volume (MGV) ; for each kidney, arbitrary and vertical sections were analysed. MGVs were not significantly different between arbitrary and vertical sections (P l 0n691) when analysing the data with the paired t test ; when plotting MGV estimates from arbitrary sections against those from vertical sections the intercept was found not to be significantly different from zero (P 0n8) and the slope of the regression line not to be significantly different from 1n0 (P 0n4). For the estimation of MGV in equine kidneys using PSI, arbitrary sections may be used if it is not possible to use isotropic or vertical sections, but some caution must be exercised in the interpretation of results so gained.

Organogenesis of lung and kidney in Thoroughbreds and ponies

“…Glomerular number was estimated using the physical disector (Sterio 1984;Pakkenberg and Gundersen 1988;Hinchliffe et al 1992Hinchliffe et al , 1993Beech et al 2000a) with a disector height of 10 µm (Hinchliffe et al 1992(Hinchliffe et al , 1993Beech et al 2000a) and a TPM (Howard et al 1999). Volume-weighted mean glomerular volume was estimated using the point-sampled intercept (PSI) method (Gundersen and Jensen 1985;Beech et al 2000d).…”

“…Stereological techniques allow the unbiased and efficient estimation of 3-D parameters, such as volume, number and surface, from 2-D images, such as histological tissue sections. Examples of the use of stereology include the estimation of kidney volume (Hinchliffe et al 1992(Hinchliffe et al , 1993Beech et al 2000a); tracheal volume (Schmitz and Perry 1999); flexor volume (Gadeberg et al 1999); breast volume (Hussain et al 1999); lung volume (Beech et al 2000b(Beech et al ,c, 2001); brain neocortex volume (Ansari et al 2001); mean neuron nuclear volume (Ansari et al 1998); mean nuclear volume in laryngeal carcinoma (Bentzen et al 1999); nuclear star volume in small cell carcinoma of the lung (Caporrino et al 1999); mean glomerular volume (Beech et al 2000d); total number of glomeruli in kidney (Hinchliffe et al 1992(Hinchliffe et al , 1993Beech et al 2000a); nuclear number in ventricular cardiomyocytes ; photoreceptor number of the retina (Mayhew and Astle 1997); number of pulmonary neuroepithelial bodies (Bolle et al 1999); total number of terminal bronchiolar duct endings in lung (Beech et al 2000b(Beech et al ,c, 2001; total number of neocortical neurons and glial cells (Ansari et al 2001); total surface area of capillaries expressing blood-brain barrier antigen (Sibbons et al 1996b); surface area of disc membrane of retina (Mayhew and Astle 1997); surface density of CD1a+ Langerhans cells (Bahmer and Scharrer 1997); total gas exchange surface area in lung (Beech et al 2000a); myelin fibre length (Tang and Nyengaard 1997) and dendritic length (Cotter et al 1999).…”

The volume fraction method for the evaluation of kidney: A stereological study

“…It has been observed that studies carried out using stereological methods on organs generally question the reliability of the method. Accordingly, various sections from the same material have been analyzed and compared, and no significant difference has been observed (2,4,9,27).…”

“…Accordingly, various sections from the same material have been analyzed and compared, and no significant difference has been observed (2,4,9,27).…”

The role of stereology in the study of placental transfer between fetal foal and mare

“…Perfusion fixation prevents collapse of the fetal vascular space but, certainly in man, rat and pig, it does not change the physical parameters of other placental components and, from a morphological viewpoint, it is the physical area of potential exchange that seems to be crucial for the wellbeing of the fetus and this will not be changed by immersion fixation. This is the approach taken by Allen et al (2002) and Wilsher and Allen (2003), who used stereology to define the maternofetal exchange surface area after studies by Mayhew (2003) and Mayhew et al (1997Mayhew et al ( , 2003aMayhew et al ( ,b, 2004a and this author's group (Beech et al 1999(Beech et al , 2000a(Beech et al , 2001aAnsari et al 2001Ansari et al , 2002Ansari et al , 2003Ansari et al , 2004Egbor et al 2005) which measured many tissue organ and placental features in human cases of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR), sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and preeclampsia. For morphometric analyses of placenta and other tissues, the stereological approach is significantly better than planimetry or conventional histopathology, since it supplies total measurements relative to the whole organ and is therefore much more predictive of potential functional changes.…”