L. Kubinova et J. Janacek, Confocal microscopy and stereology: Estimating volume, number, surface area and length by virtual test probes applied to three-dimensional images, MICROSC RES, 53(6), 2001, pp. 425-435
The opportunities of confocal microscopy applied to morphometry of microsco
pical structures are presented and demonstrated on stereological methods ba
sed on evaluation of optical sections within a thick slice and using comput
er-generated virtual test probes. Such methods, allowing arbitrary orientat
ion of the thick slice, can be used for estimating volume, number, surface
area, and length. The methods using spatial grid of points, disector, fakir
, and slicer probes are described and illustrated by different examples usi
ng our freeware 3DTOOLS software and their variance and applicability are d
iscussed. It is shown that shifted triple or quadruple spatial grids of lin
es are very efficient for the surface area and volume estimation by the fak
ir method. Microsc. Res. Tech. 53:425-435, 2001. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.