Synopses & Reviews
This treatise combines a detailed methodology that is simple to follow and reconstruct, and can be universally used to determine the surface area or tubular organs, in this special case development for the intestines. It is especially appropriate for large intestine, but can be used for small intestine also. The great advantage is the applicability at the macroscopic and microscopic levels, measuring the entire intestine for determination of a ground or basal area, and using a large encompassing sampling technique to obtain a factor of surface enlargment due to such structural entitities as folds and plicae. A technique to determine the factor of increase due to microvilli is also introduced. Various factors that may influence the measurements are discussed. Application of the technique is presented within the concept of scaling. Numerous regression curves are presented to represent how intestinal surface area correlates with body weight. A unifying and correlating concept between morphology and morphometry is developed. Over 20 species are included.
Synopsis
1. 1 Scientific Aims In recent years, there has been a definite trend away from the casuistic scientific thinking which has dominated the scientific world, at least in the field of medicobi- ological research. Now, in the last decade of this century, scientists are returning to a conceptual way of thinking that characterized the beginning of this century, namely organismal thinking. The holistic concept is not a new one; it was rekindled by a small group of scientists who, in the previous two decades, have begun to warn against too great an emphasis being placed on a molecular casuistic approach as the final pursuit to science (see Duncker 1983). These thinkers were perhaps instrumental in helping to turn the tide, to instruct and encourage fellow researchers to extend their findings from the molecular and to the organismal (see Duncker 1983, 1992a, b; Duncker and Kreite 1987). Having observed the ceca of many different animals for many years and having described their morphology at different levels of study -from the macroscopic to the electron microscopy level - the need to compare and observe these morphological entities in a quantitiative way became increasingly imminent. Quantitative methodol- ogy in morphology requires the use of morphometry, which in the most general terms can be described as the measurement of the forms of animals. As defined by Reith and Meyhew (1988), it is quantitative morphology, i. e., the measurement of structures by any method, including stereology.
Synopsis
This volume describes a comprehensive but simple technique for determination of the intestinal absorptive surface area in mammals of different sizes (from harvest mouse to horse). It is a treatise of research carried out by the author over 25 years in a much neglected area: morphology and morphometry of the large intestine - specifically the caecum of mammals. Over 20 species are considered, at the macroscopic and microscopic levels.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-88) and index.
Table of Contents
Contents: Summary.- Introduction.- Methodology.- Morphology of the mammalian caecum and colon.- Morphometry of the mammalian caecum and colon.- Subject Index.