Examination of a lognormal distribution equation for describing distributions of diameters of bovine adipocytes.

Samples of subcutaneous, intermuscular and mesenteric adipose tissues from beef steers were fixed with osmium tetroxide, and freed adipocytes were counted with an automatic particle counter to determine whether a lognormal distribution function would describe adipocyte size distributions more accurately than a normal distribution function. Modes and medians of size distributions generally were larger than means for adipocyte size distributions modeled with a lognormal distribution function. Normalized third and fourth moments of predicted lognormal distributions often were close to 0 and 3, respectively, which are expected values for a normally distributed population. Considerable variation was observed in the skewness of adipocyte size distributions. Both normal and lognormal models for adipocyte size distribution yielded similar means. The lognormal model yielded a greater standard deviation than the normal model for adipocyte size distributions. Smaller chi-square values were found for size distributions modeled with a lognormal than with a normal distribution function. Results suggest that a lognormal distribution function more accurately models the size distributions of bovine adipocytes.