Estimation of the mean caliper: a new simple approach.
Morphometric measurements are commonly carried out on structures the shape of which approximates that of a sphere. We calculated some stereological data of eosinophil granules by using digitized planimetry, performed on transmission electronmicrographs. By using a new approach for mean caliper (D) estimation and extrapolating an approximate granule axial ratio, we were able to calculate the granule density size. We deduced from a numerical analysis for various sphere sizes distributions from which an underestimation of not more than 4% may be contributed to D in most cases, assuming that the diameter coefficient of variation is less than 35%. The methodology we propose for mean ellipsoid caliper estimation seems to be useful in cases in which the disector method is not suitable.
Elmalek
M
M
Department of Pathology, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Israel.
Hammel
I
I
D000818:Animals; D004804:Eosinophils / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005260:Female; D008854:Microscopy, Electron / Q000379:methods*; D010537:Peritoneum / Q000166:cytology*; D051381:Rats