Personal computer software for the stereologic evaluation of sympathetic ganglia.

Software was developed on a personal computer for a quantitative study of some ultrastructural aspects of sympathetic ganglia (the neuronal cell body, the surrounding satellite cell layer and the nearby capillaries). A low-cost digitizer, originally designed for teaching, semiprofessional graphics applications and games, was utilized to sample areas and distances on electron micrographs. The processing program derives stereologic parameters from the crude data stored in the memory. Further algorithms then assess the mean thickness and the volume densities of the satellite cell layer, endothelial basal lamina and endothelial layer.