Application of an automatic electronic image analyzer to the measurement of myocardial extracellular space.

The volume of the rat myocardial extracellular compartment was determined by electronic image analysis (Zeiss Micro-Videomat) and compared with values obtained by point-counting on the same histological micrographs. The data suggest that the results obtained by the two methods may be expected to be approximately within 10% of each other. The subjective component of the morphometry was not entirely eliminated due to some heterogeneity in the staining of the histological sections. Until the deficiencies in staining homogeneity are eliminated, the main advantage of the image analysis compared to point-counting will be limited to a greater labor efficiency.