An effective morphometric method for electron microscopic studies on papillary muscles

Morphometry was performed on the left ventricular posterior papillary muscles of seven Wistar rats. The volume densities of myocardial cells, interstitial space, myocardial nuclei, sarcoplasm, mitochondria, myofibrils, ground substance and T tubules, and the surface densities of myocardial cells, mitochondrial membranes and T tubules, were calculated. Though only 1 ultrathin section per animal was evaluated the low standard errors of the means indicate that the method described here will be adequate in most experimental studies. Due to the anisotropy of the surfaces within myocardial cells, the papillary muscles were cut at an angle of 32.4 degrees to their longitudinal axis. This angle is derived from an equation published by Whitehouse (1974). The procedure to correct the loss of cristal membrane images from oblique sectioning is discussed.