Torch S, Stoebner P, Usson Y, D'Aubigny G D, Saxod R
Laboratoire de Biologie Animale, Unité Associée CNRS no 682, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France.
J Neurosci Methods. 1989 Mar;27(2):149-64. doi: 10.1016/0165-0270(89)90098-8.
Morphometric studies of peripheral nerves (PN) usually involve some sampling of the myelinated fibres (MF). In order to scrutinize the statistical properties of the sampling processes in common use and the reliability of the resulting estimates, a quantitative analysis of human superficial peroneal nerves from 8 different normal subjects was undertaken at the ultrastructural level, both in terms of MF spatial distribution and of their size distribution. This study used sampling rates involving more than 10% of the whole myelinated fibre population observed in each nerve fascicle. However, in nearly all the fascicles evaluated, the sampling fluctuations are so high that neither the number of axons nor their diameter distribution can be assessed with enough accuracy. A systematic study of the myelinated fibres shows that the spatial distribution of their size is not uniform. This marked heterogeneity in the MF size distribution imposes measurement of large enough samples (500 or 600 MFs usually represent about one-half or two-thirds of the whole MF population) in a way to secure a reliable enough estimate of the density and size distributions. However, the practical usefulness of sampling schemes requiring more than one-half of the whole MF population in a nerve fascicle, is questionable.
周围神经（PN）的形态计量学研究通常涉及对有髓纤维（MF）的一些抽样。为了仔细研究常用抽样过程的统计特性以及所得估计值的可靠性，在超微结构水平上对8名不同正常受试者的腓浅神经进行了定量分析，包括MF的空间分布及其大小分布。本研究使用的抽样率超过了在每个神经束中观察到的整个有髓纤维群体的10%。然而，在几乎所有评估的神经束中，抽样波动非常大，以至于轴突数量及其直径分布都无法得到足够准确的评估。对有髓纤维的系统研究表明，其大小的空间分布并不均匀。MF大小分布中的这种显著异质性要求测量足够大的样本（通常500或600条MF约占整个MF群体的二分之一或三分之二），以便获得足够可靠的密度和大小分布估计值。然而，在神经束中需要超过整个MF群体一半的抽样方案的实际实用性值得怀疑。
