Automation of Microstereology. The Development of a Biological Test System for Evaluating the Performance of Computer-Controller Optical Scanners.

摘要

A method is described that can be used to prepare a biological test object, the human RBC, for thin section electron microscopy. Red cells are randomly and relatively uniformly distributed in the RBC-agar gels prepared according to this method. The cells are of reasonably high contrast and preliminary testing indicates that these films of RBC-agar blocks are suitable for use in a computer-controlled optical scanner, thus satisfying our technical objective. The microstereology data human RBCs that were developed in the the course of this study are of considerable general interest. Estimates of RBC mass cell volume and surface areas are of considerable importance since these values are used in studies dealing with a broad spectrum of problems in cell biology, biophysics and biochemistry (Weinstein, 1974). Many investigators have attempted to determine these RBC dimensions by other methods and some of these results are summarized.