StereoInvestigator: The Fuss About Using Stereology

Joseph Nunez

Graduate Student

Neuroscience Program

UIUC

7 October 1999

In the investigation of structural and cellular differences between groups, you often have to tell if one group is different than another by more quantitative methods than just "eyeballing" it. The subtle alterations between groups are often only evident under analysis by the most stringent of analytical tools. StereoInvestigator makes quantitative analysis easy - whether looking at changes in cellular composition, or anything that can be viewed under the light microscope. This tool can help to quantify the structural and cellular composition of various groups. Particular emphasis will be placed upon the optical fractionator (used to quantify cell number) and nucleator techniques (used to quantify cell size/volume).