Morphometric Methods for the Evaluation of Capillary Grouping Patterns in Rat Heart

Abstract

Many methods for assessing tissue capillarity from sections taken perpendicular to the axis of anisotropy have been advanced in recent years. The central theme to these methods has generally involved the measurement of capillary density, i.e. the number of capillaries per unit of cross sectional area. This measurement is the primary descriptor of the relative contributions of vascular and tissue components in the plane. Notwithstanding this average measurement, tissue supply of oxygen has been shown to be compromised as the heterogeneity of capillary spacing increases (Turek and Rakusan, 1981); and hence modern approaches have taken into account to the spatial relationships amongst neighbouring capillaries (Kayar et al., 1982; Hoofd et al., 1985). As the local capillary environment, more than the average tissue value for capillarity, describes better the range of geometrical conditions for oxygen transport, the morphometric methods described in this study take into account the spatial relationships amongst neighboring capillaries.