Linear Correlation Between the Total Islet Mass and the Volume-Weighted Mean Islet Volume

Linear Correlation Between the Total Islet Mass and the Volume-Weighted Mean Islet Volume Maren Skau 1 , Bente Pakkenberg 2 , Karsten Buschard 1 and Troels Bock 1 2 1 Diabetes Research Laboratory, Bartholin Instituttet, H.S. Kommunehospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark 2 Neurological Research Laboratory, Bartholin Instituttet, H.S. Kommunehospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark Abstract To understand the dynamics of islet population, especially during conditions with growth of the total islet mass, it is important to have reliable estimators of parameters describing the quantitative appearance of the islet population. We describe a stereological estimator of the volume-weighted mean islet volume based on unbiased assumption-free stereological principles. The volume-weighted mean islet volume is the mean islet volume if the islets are weighted (sampled) proportional to their volume. This method allows simultaneously unbiased estimation of the total islet mass. With use of this method, 22 male Sprague-Dawley rats within the age span of 34–102 days old were investigated. We found a linear correlation ( P < 0.001) between total islet mass and the volume-weighted mean islet volume. The results support models demonstrating that the physiological growth of the total islet mass in the period studied is totally or mainly caused by proportional growth of existing islets. The functional meaning of the volume-weighted mean islet volume is discussed, and previous methods to study the mean islet volume and islet number are critically evaluated. We propose the volume-weighted mean islet volume to be a biologically useful parameter when describing the mean volume of the pancreatic islets and investigating the differences between experimental groups. Footnotes Address correspondence and reprint requests to Troels Bock, MD, PhD, Bartholin Instituttet, University Hospital of Copenhagen, H.S. Kommunehospitalet, DK-1399 Copenhagen K, Denmark. E-mail: tbock{at}post12.tele.dk . Received for publication 28 November 2000 and accepted in revised form 26 April 2001. 2-D, two-dimensional; 3-D, three-dimensional; CV, coefficient of variation; H-E, hematoxylin and eosin; SURS, systematic uniform random sampling; URS, uniform random sampling.