Estimation of section thickness for stereological analysis

Stereology is the gold standard technique for producing statistically valid data used to accurately estimate a quantitative parameter such as number, length, or volume. Sampling and counting techniques are important steps in performing stereological analysis without making assumptions. Microscopic techniques are performed to measure morphological parameters in health science studies to understand the development, aging and renewal processes in biological structures. Physical and optical disector counting methods are the most commonly used stereological techniques for unbiased counting of biological structures in tissue. In the disector method, section thickness is important for the disector volume and accurate estimation. Also, it can be measured using automatic systems or manual methods. In this chapter, methods for measuring section thickness are explained.