Skeletal muscle microvascular and interstitial PO2 from rest to contractions : Skeletal muscle transcapillary PO2 gradients

The Journal of Physiology and Experimental Physiology have always used UK legislation as the basis of their policy on ethical standards in experiments on non-human animals. However, for international journals with authors, editors and referees from outside the UK the policy can lack transparency and is sometimes cumbersome, requiring the intervention of a Senior Ethics Reviewer or advice from external experts familiar with UK legislation. The journals have therefore decided to set out detailed guidelines for how authors should report experimental procedures that involve animals. As well as helping authors, this new clarity will facilitate the review process and decision making where there are questions regarding animal ethics.

Stereological principles provide efficient and reliable tools for the determination of quantitative parameters of tissue structure on sections. Some principles which allow the estimation of volumetric ratios, surface areas, surface-to-volume ratios, thicknesses of tissue or cell sheets, and the number of structures are reviewed and presented in general form; means for their practical application in electron microscopy are outlined. The systematic and statistical errors involved in such measurements are discussed.