Abstract
SEVERAL workers have suggested that the percentage of binucleate cells seen in histological sections is not a true measure of the percentage of such cells in the liver. The cells of the liver are so large, varying between 12 and 25 µ in diameter, that a considerable number of the cells in a section 6–8 µ thick must have been cut through, and in some cases two nuclei may have been separated. Pfuhl1 corrected for this error in counts made on the livers of rabbits by assuming that the percentages of binucleate cells in sections 5 and 7.5 µ thick were one-third and one-half the absolute value, respectively. Later, Müller2 elaborated a formula for converting the observed counts to the real percentages. It would be preferable to count the binucleate cells in a suspension of liver cells; but the difficulty has been to prepare a suitable suspension. Recently, Bucher and Glinos3 reported finding three times as many binucleate cells in a cell suspension as in a section 6–8 µ thick. This suspension had been prepared by agitation of tissue slices in saline (private communication by Dr. N. Bucher).
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Pfuhl, W., “Die Leber. Handbuch der mikroskopischen Anatomie des Menschen”, Ed. by W. V. Mollendorf, 2, 235 (Berlin: Springer 5, 1932).
Müller, H. G., Z. mik.-anat. Forsch., 41, G 296 (1937).
Bucher, N. L. R., and Glinos, A. D., Cancer Res., 10, 324 (1950).
Folley, S. J., and Watson, S. C., Biochem. J., 42, 204 (1948).
Robinson, J. R., Biochem. J., 45, 68 (1949).
Harrison, M. F., Proc. Roy. Soc., B (in the press).
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HARRISON, M. Percentage of Binucleate Cells in the Livers of Adult Rats. Nature 171, 611 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/171611a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/171611a0
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