A new method of determining the cell density from a corneal specular micrograph.
Non-contact specular micrographs of the corneal endothelium are usually only a few cell diameters in width. The oblong shape leads to uncertainties in the determination of cell density by counting the number of cells on an area of known size. A new method, particularly suited for a long and narrow picture, is described. A line with a length corresponding to 1 mm is drawn on a specular micrograph. The number n of cells sectioned by this line is counted. It is demonstrated that the average cell size A may be determined from n by the formula A = 1 404 669/n2 micron2. The relation between A and n is presented in Table 1, which also gives the corresponding cell density expressed by the number of cells per mm2.
D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D002455:Cell Division; D003315:Cornea / Q000166:cytology*; D004727:Endothelium / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods*