Stereological study of tissue compartments of the human spleen

Morphometric reports on animal and human spleen are very few and no studies have been carried out using stereological methods to investigate all of the tissue compartments of the human spleen. Eighteen samples of spleens, which were either surgically removed after traumatic injury or during treatment for early stage carcinoma or gastric ulcer, were investigated. The point-counting method was used to study the volume densities of the following tissue compartments: red pulp, perifollicular zone, white pulp (this tissue compartment was divided in two subcompartments: follicles and periarteriolar lymphatic sheath), marginal zone and connective tissue of trabeculas. The following stereological parameters of the follicles were investigated: the number of follicles per mm2 of spleen section, numerical density, volume density, and the mean follicular diameter. The identity of spleen tissue compartments was verified using immunohistochemical staining for B- and T-lymphocytes. The volume densities of tissue compartments, as well as stereological parameters of lymphoid follicles, were similar in both groups of splenic samples, except for the volume densities of perifollicular zone and periarteriolar lymphatic sheath, where a statistically significant difference was registered.