title: Estimating cell number in the central nervous system by stereological methods: the optical disector and fractionator.
abstract: This unit describes techniques, based on recent advances in stereological methods, to obtain unbiased estimates of total cell or synapse number in discrete structures of the central nervous system. They combine unbiased counting frames, unbiased systematic random sampling, and unbiased estimates of the structure volume to produce the final estimate of number.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurotoxicology and Neurological Disorders and Shin Nippon Biological Laboratories U.S.A., Redmond, Washington, USA.
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Charleston
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002452:Cell Count; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000166:cytology*; D004867:Equipment Design; D051381:Rats