A television system for point counting morphometry in high resolution light microscopy

High resolution light microscopical images that can be superimposed on a test system for the estimation of stereological parameters are obtained by a television system modified for point-counting morphometry. The full resolving power of the light microscope is exploited and a test system applied in the same plane as the microscopical image displayed on the monitor screen. Volume fraction estimates of nuclei and zymogen granules from the rat pancreas made with the television microscopical system and with electron-microscopic micrographs rendered the same precision, and showed that the volume fraction of objects as small as zymogen granules was measurable with the light microscope. The measuring with the television microscopical system was about 15 times faster than with electron-microscopic micrography and about 5 times faster than with conventional photomicrography and the light microscope.