Some recent results of the quantitative characterization of heart muscle cells.

The present situation of the quantitative characterization of the heart muscle may be summarized as follows: 1. There exists a great collection of quantitative data of the heart at the macroscopical, microscopical, and ultrastructural levels. 2. These data allow for the explanation of several life processes and of the pathogenesis of various diseases. 3. Correlations between cellular structures and biochemical processes can be realized by quantitative data, especially volume, number, and surface. 4. At present it is necessary to standardize the methods in order to obtain a better comparability of the results. 5. Moreover, the three levels should be correlated because only then numerous results may interpreted correctly. 6. All existing quantitative results show significantly that the isolated recording of quantitative data is an insufficient as is the description of qualitative results. The combination of quantitative and qualitative findings leads, however, to completely new results of higher scientific value which form--in combination with biochemical findings--the basis of the knowledge of normal and disturbed life processes.