Comparison of Profile Counting and Diameter Measurement for Estimating the Length Density of Seminiferous Tubules or Epididymal Duct

Transverse testicular sections are often used for histopathological studies and length of seminiferous tubules in the testis is often estimated by the tubule volume divided by the tubules’ cross-sectional area, with the area being obtained by measuring the (short axial) diameters of the round (or e...

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Main Authors: Wei Xu, Yang Guo, Zheng-Wei Yang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Slovenian Society for Stereology and Quantitative Image Analysis 2024-11-01
Series:Image Analysis and Stereology
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Online Access:https://www.ias-iss.org/ojs/IAS/article/view/3123
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author Wei Xu
Yang Guo
Zheng-Wei Yang
author_facet Wei Xu
Yang Guo
Zheng-Wei Yang
author_sort Wei Xu
collection DOAJ
description Transverse testicular sections are often used for histopathological studies and length of seminiferous tubules in the testis is often estimated by the tubule volume divided by the tubules’ cross-sectional area, with the area being obtained by measuring the (short axial) diameters of the round (or elliptical) tubule profiles. But unbiased stereological length estimation is best based on counting of tubule profiles on isotropic sections. To determine the bias of length estimation with the diameter measurement, (i) transverse sections (methacrylate embedded) were obtained from a testis of each normal mature male Sprague-Dawley rat (10 rats in total) and isotropic sections obtained (with the orientator) from the other testis of the rat, and (ii) the tubule length densities were estimated with both methods of profile counting and diameter measurement. The results demonstrated that the method of diameter measurement on transverse or isotropic sections overestimated the length density by 20%-25% compared with profile counting on isotropic sections, probably mainly because of underestimation of the tubules’ cross-sectional area estimated from the short-axial diameters. Length density of the epididymal duct in the epididymis was also estimated with profile counting in the present study, using transverse and isotropic sections for comparison, and a significant statistical difference was not found between the results obtained with the transverse and isotropic sections.
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publishDate 2024-11-01
publisher Slovenian Society for Stereology and Quantitative Image Analysis
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spelling doaj-art-0af3d26e4e594389837189ae094b38d42024-12-05T13:32:50ZengSlovenian Society for Stereology and Quantitative Image AnalysisImage Analysis and Stereology1580-31391854-51652024-11-0143310.5566/ias.3123Comparison of Profile Counting and Diameter Measurement for Estimating the Length Density of Seminiferous Tubules or Epididymal DuctWei XuYang GuoZheng-Wei Yang0North Sichuan Medical College Transverse testicular sections are often used for histopathological studies and length of seminiferous tubules in the testis is often estimated by the tubule volume divided by the tubules’ cross-sectional area, with the area being obtained by measuring the (short axial) diameters of the round (or elliptical) tubule profiles. But unbiased stereological length estimation is best based on counting of tubule profiles on isotropic sections. To determine the bias of length estimation with the diameter measurement, (i) transverse sections (methacrylate embedded) were obtained from a testis of each normal mature male Sprague-Dawley rat (10 rats in total) and isotropic sections obtained (with the orientator) from the other testis of the rat, and (ii) the tubule length densities were estimated with both methods of profile counting and diameter measurement. The results demonstrated that the method of diameter measurement on transverse or isotropic sections overestimated the length density by 20%-25% compared with profile counting on isotropic sections, probably mainly because of underestimation of the tubules’ cross-sectional area estimated from the short-axial diameters. Length density of the epididymal duct in the epididymis was also estimated with profile counting in the present study, using transverse and isotropic sections for comparison, and a significant statistical difference was not found between the results obtained with the transverse and isotropic sections. https://www.ias-iss.org/ojs/IAS/article/view/3123epididymal ductisotropic sectionsseminiferous tubuleslength densitystereology
spellingShingle Wei Xu
Yang Guo
Zheng-Wei Yang
Comparison of Profile Counting and Diameter Measurement for Estimating the Length Density of Seminiferous Tubules or Epididymal Duct
Image Analysis and Stereology
epididymal duct
isotropic sections
seminiferous tubules
length density
stereology
title Comparison of Profile Counting and Diameter Measurement for Estimating the Length Density of Seminiferous Tubules or Epididymal Duct
title_full Comparison of Profile Counting and Diameter Measurement for Estimating the Length Density of Seminiferous Tubules or Epididymal Duct
title_fullStr Comparison of Profile Counting and Diameter Measurement for Estimating the Length Density of Seminiferous Tubules or Epididymal Duct
title_full_unstemmed Comparison of Profile Counting and Diameter Measurement for Estimating the Length Density of Seminiferous Tubules or Epididymal Duct
title_short Comparison of Profile Counting and Diameter Measurement for Estimating the Length Density of Seminiferous Tubules or Epididymal Duct
title_sort comparison of profile counting and diameter measurement for estimating the length density of seminiferous tubules or epididymal duct
topic epididymal duct
isotropic sections
seminiferous tubules
length density
stereology
url https://www.ias-iss.org/ojs/IAS/article/view/3123
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AT yangguo comparisonofprofilecountinganddiametermeasurementforestimatingthelengthdensityofseminiferoustubulesorepididymalduct
AT zhengweiyang comparisonofprofilecountinganddiametermeasurementforestimatingthelengthdensityofseminiferoustubulesorepididymalduct