"Good Stereology Through Good Engineering"

The SRC welcomes new STEREOLOGER users

In the early 1990s the international community of biomedical scientists, journal editors, regulatory agencies, and grant reviewers began to recognize that design-based (unbiased) stereological methods provide the most reliable, accurate, and reproducible methods for the quantitative analysis of biological structure.

In 1995 Dr. Peter R. Mouton teamed with Systems Planning and Analysis in Alexandria, VA and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD to develop the STEREOLOGER system, the first integrated hardware-software stereology system for both PC and Macintosh computers. For over a decade this computerized stereology system has received numerous funding awards from the National Institutes of Health. Today, the STEREOLOGER leads the industry for state-of-the-art stereology, user-friendly design, and professional customer support.

• Only computerized stereology system designed with funding and peer-review approval from the National Institutes of Health of the U.S. Public Health Service.
• Only system for both Macintosh and PC computers, all brands of microscopes, and all stage motors for movement in X-Y-Z axes.
• Includes only stereological techniques approved by the international stereology community.
• Priced literally tens of thousands below all other computerized stereology systems.
• Provides all of the critical features needed for computer-assisted unbiased stereology, including virtual probes for length and surface area analysis on tissue sections cut at any orientation (coronal, horizontal, etc.).
• Regularly reviewed and approved by professional stereologists and biomedical scientists for accuracy, precision, and optimal efficiency.
• On-site installation and training, and remote support available worldwide by professional support staff.
• Includes best-selling textbook for applications of design-based stereology to biomedical research, and the highly acclaimed system manual, "Introduction To Computerized Stereology."

To request a free, no obligation quote that fits your needs, contact STEREOLOGER Specialist, Scott McElhiney at:
Phone: 352-871-7045
Email: scott@disector.com.

Or click here to request an on-line quote.




Cost Of Stereologer Packages

At the SRC our goal is to improve the productivity of your laboratory with cutting-edge stereology resources at the lowest possible cost.

We can ship the STEREOLOGER software to your laboratory, preloaded on a new Mac or PC computer, for under $30K for the Basic Stereologer system and under $35K for the Advanced Stereologer system*,**. Just specify your microscope, add a monitor, and you're ready to go. Pure and simple.

*Price differences relate to different hardware options, e.g., cameras with differing resolution and other features.
** Advanced system includes a new Macintosh or PC computer, top-of-the-line X-Y-Z motorized stage and encoder, high resolution color video camera, all connection cables, stage micrometer, on-site installation, on-site training, and annual maintenance agreement.

If you currently own some or all of the required hardware (computer, motorized stage, video camera), or wish to upgrade from an outdated stereology system to the current STEREOLOGER version 2.0, we can complete your system at a signficant savings off the full package price.

To receive a quote for a Basic or Advanced system, to upgrade to the version 2.0, or to convert your current system to the STEREOLOGER, contact Scott McElhiney at:

Phone: 352-871-7045
Email: scott@disector.com.

Or click here to request an on-line quote.

What Other Vendors Don't Want You To Know Before Purchasing A Computerized Stereology System: Don't Overspend If You Don't Have To.

Compare the STEREOLOGER with other commercially available stereology systems, which include the newCAST (VisioPharm), StereoInvestigator (MBF BioScience), and the Stereology Tool-kit Plug-in (Bioquant). Especially contrast these systems with the STEREOLOGER on the basis of user-friendly design, cost/benefit ratio, technical support, and breadth of stereological and scientific expertise and experience. Call us to discuss diffferent features, equipment, and services available for each of these systems, and why we include some of these features and do not include others. Not all methods for quantitative analysis of morphology receive equal acceptance by editorial reviewers and study sections, and we're happy to explain the differences. To help in this comparison, we've provided a few FAQs.


Frequently Asked Questions

• How much should I spend on a camera for stereology? The adage that, "An image is worth a thousands words, but data is worth a thousands images," applies well to stereology. Beware of camera sales pitches, including those from the major microscope vendors, that recommend expensive, high-end digital cameras as the, "ideal choice for all your microscope needs." High-resolution video cameras in the range of $2k to $6K remain the most affordable, reliable, and effective option for computerized stereology systems, where the primary goal is to collect data from tissue sections, rather than to capture, save, and process images.

• Should I buy a video or digital camera for stereology? With a trinocular configuration on your microscope, you can use both video and digital cameras. This configuration includes video camera imaging for stereology work and digital imaging for image processing and analysis. Even with a standard binocular configuration, i.er., image reflected to either the ocular or a single camera, both digital and video cameras use the same type of C-mount attachment to the scope; therefore, users can switch cameras as required for different applications. Note that during data collection the STEREOLOGER can capture images, which can then be processed and analyzed using image analysis programs.

• Does the STEREOLOGER analyze stored images, as well as real-time video using design-based stereology? The STEREOLOGER carries out design-based stereology using both live video images, and stacks of digital images collected from other sources and saved in any of the major formats (TIFF, JPEG, etc.). Though slower than real-time analysis of video images, analysis of saved images is required for sections cut at at an instrument setting of a few microns or less, e.g., electron and confocal image stacks.
  
• How much time is required for stereological analysis of tissue? Analysis of a particular anatomically defined region of interest (reference space) requires one-hour or less on stained tissue sections. However, we recommend no more than 2-3 hours per work per day to avoid the introduction of bias from recognition errors. Data collection using the STEREOLOGER system for a typical studies requires a couple weeks, including pilot studies and optimization of sampling for maximal efficiency.
  
• Why does the STEREOLOGER system cost tens of thousands of dollars less than other computerized stereology systems? Because of long-term NIH support, the STEREOLOGER does not require high volume sales to recoup development costs, and can therefore be sold and supported at lower costs than other systems. Beware of significantly higher prices for other computerized stereology systems, in some cases two or three times higher than the STEREOLOGER. To justify their higher prices, these vendors use high-pressure marketing and sales techniques to promote the ability to "expand with add-ons," options that represent approaches, equipment, and services that are less than state-of-the-art, obsolete features that you will never use, or expensive hardware that you do not need for stereological studies. Among these options are image analysis approaches that can be obtained elsewhere as freeware, e.g., Image J, the image analysis and processing program provided by the NIH at no cost.

• What is Image J? Formerly known as NIH Image, Image J is a comprehensive and powerful freeware or both PC and Mac platforms. This downloadable software is provided by the NIH for image processing/analysis, the most widely used and value-added program for capture, processing, and analysis of scientific images. Below we have listed few URLs for helpful Image J websites, which can be copied and pasted into a search browser:
  
  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ImageJ
  http://www.biocompare.com/prorev.asp?id=1090
  http://www.indianjcancer.com/article.asp?issn=0019-509X;year=2004;volume=41;issue=1;spage=47;epage=47;aulast=Girish
  http://rsb.info.nih.gov/nih-image/manual/faq.html

• Does customer support differ for different computerized stereology systems? We often hear from uses of other stereology systems, "I call and email for technical support but they never contact me back." These vendors sell "applicances," not stereology, and prefer to spend their time and effort on selling overpriced products and services, not customer support. They often know less about the analysis of biological objects that you do; either way, once you buy their system you're on your own. In contrast, the SRC has a customer-based philosophy, meaning that our customers come first, before sales, before marketing, before all other considerations. We take care of our customers and success follows.
  
  
• How can I convert from my present stereology system to the STEREOLOGER? Frustrated with your current stereology system, the one you purchased in response to the aggressive sales tactics and high powered marketing? Find that you over-paid for poorly designed, user-unfriendly stereology software from a company with poor support? With the STEREOLOGER, this does not happen and never will. As scientists and peer-reviewers, we know what you need and designed the system accordingly; second, we do not need aggressive marketing and sales tactics -- the system sells itself through word-of-mouth. If you are ready to convert, call or email for a discounted quote that incorporates your existing hardware and saves your research dollars for other uses.

To receive a free quote for a Basic or Advanced system, to upgrade to the version 2.0, or to convert your current system to the STEREOLOGER, contact Scott McElhiney at:
Phone: 352-871-7045
Email: scott@disector.com.

Testimonials From STEREOLOGER Users:

“I enjoy using the STEREOLOGER system and most importantly, I trust the data. I find the system far better organized and far easier to use than the older approaches. Also, real scientists are available to answer questions about the STEREOLOGER. ”
Dr. D.L.L., Research Associate, user of the Mac-version at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD.

"I've tried them all, including the StereoInvestigator and CAST systems, and prefer the STEREOLOGER."
Dr. D.G.O., neuroscientist, user of the PC-version in University of Toledo, Spain.

"The students and technicians in my laboratory have different computerized stereology systems to choose from, and they all prefer the STEREOLOGER."
Prof. R.B., behavioralist, user of the Mac-version University of California, Davis.

"...above all, we like the STEREOLOGER system. Congrats on the user-interface and technical support, all much more straightforward and easier-to-use than other systems."
Dr. G.T., postdoctoral scientist, user of the PC-version at the National Institute On Aging, NIH, Baltimore, MD.

Recent peer-reviewed publications using the STEREOLOGER

Perry T, Holloway HW, Weerasuriya A, Mouton PR, Duffy K, Mattison JA, Greig NH. Evidence of GLP-1-mediated neuroprotection in an animal model of pyridoxine-induced peripheral sensory neuropathy. Exp Neurol. Nov 21, 2006.

Armstrong, R.C., Le, T.Q., Flint, N.C., Vana,A.C., Zhou., Y-X. Endogenous Cell Repair of Chronic Demyelination. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. March; 65(3): 245–256, 2006.

RJ Roper, LL Baxter, NG Saran, DK Klinedinst, PA Beachy, RH Reeves. Defective cerebellar response to mitogenic Hedgehog signaling in Down syndrome mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Jan 31;103(5):1452-6.

E. J. H. Schenck, C. L. Brooks Effects of an S84E Mutation of Bovine Growth Hormone in Transgenic Mice. Experimental Biology and Medicine, 231:296-302, 2006.

E. Aberg; T. M. Pham, M. Zwart, V. Baumans, S.C.A. Brene. Intermittent individual housing increases survival of newly proliferated cells. Neuroreport. 16(13):1419-1422, 2005.

Pimonporn Chaovipoch, Karen A. Bozak Jelks, Lynnette M. Gerhold, Eric J. West, Sukumal Chongthammakun, Candace L. Floyd. 17β-Estradiol Is Protective in Spinal Cord Injury in Post- and Pre-Menopausal Rats. J. Neurotrauma 2006, 23: 830-852.

Jianting Miao, Michael P. Vitek, Feng Xu, Mary Lou Previti, Judianne Davis, and William E. Van Nostrand Reducing Cerebral Microvascular Amyloid- Protein Deposition Diminishes Regional Neuroinflammation in Vasculotropic Mutant Amyloid Precursor Protein Transgenic Mice. J. Neurosci., 2005, 25:6271–6277.

Daniel Goti, Scott M. Katzen, Jesse Mez, Noam Kurtis, Jennifer Kiluk, Lea Ben-Haïem, Nancy A. Jenkins, Neal G. Copeland, Akira Kakizuka, Alan H. Sharp, Christopher A. Ross, Peter R. Mouton, and Veronica Colomer A Mutant Ataxin-3 Putative-Cleavage Fragment in Brains of Machado-Joseph Disease Patients and Transgenic Mice Is Cytotoxic above a Critical Concentration. J. Neurosci. 2004, 24:10266–10279.

Sarah A. Baker, K. Adam Baker, Theo Hagg. Dopaminergic nigrostriatal projections regulate neural precursor proliferation in the adult mouse subventricular zone. European J Neurosci 2004, 20: 575–579.

Kirkpatrick, Brian; Messias, Nidia C.; Conley, Robert R.; Roberts, Rosalinda C. Interstitial Cells of the White Matter in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Deficit and Nondeficit Schizophrenia. J Nervous & Mental Disease 2003, 191:563-567.

R.M. Sharpe, H.M. Fraser, M.F.H. Brougham, C. McKinnell, K.D. Morris, C.J.H. Kelnar, W.H.B. Wallace, M. Walker Role of the neonatal period of pituitary–testicular activity in germ cell proliferation and differentiation in the primate testis. Human Reproduction 2003, 18: 2110-2117.

JA Olschowka, WJ Bowers, SD Hurley, MA Mastrangelo, HJ Federoff. Helper-free HSV-1 amplicons elicit a markedly less robust innate immune response in the CNS. Mol Ther. 2003 Feb;7(2):218-27.

Regina C. Armstrong, Tuan Q. Le, Emma E. Frost, Rosemary C. Borke, and Adam C. Vana. Absence of Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 Promotes Oligodendroglial Repopulation of Demyelinated White Matter. J. Neurosci., 2002, 22:8574–8585.

Sonia Boncristiano, Michael E. Calhoun, Peter H. Kelly, Michelle Pfeifer, Luca Bondolfi, Martina Stalder, Amie L. Phinney, Dorothee Abramowski, Christine Sturchler-Pierrat, Albert Enz, Bernd Sommer, Matthias Staufenbiel, and Mathias Jucker Cholinergic Changes in the APP23 Transgenic Mouse Model of Cerebral Amyloidosis. J. Neurosci., 2002, 22:3234–3243.

Luca Bondolfi, Michael Calhoun, Florian Ermini, H. Georg Kuhn, Karl-Heinz Wiederhold, Lary Walker, Matthias Staufenbiel, and Mathias Jucker Amyloid-Associated Neuron Loss and Gliogenesis in the Neocortex of Amyloid Precursor Protein Transgenic Mice J. Neurosci., 2002, 22:515–522.

Paul T. Jantzen, Karen E. Connor, Giovanni DiCarlo, Gary L. Wenk, John L. Wallace, Amyn M. Rojiani, Domenico Coppola, Dave Morgan, and Marcia N. Gordon Microglial Activation and -Amyloid Deposit Reduction Caused by a Nitric Oxide-Releasing Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug in Amyloid Precursor Protein Plus Presenilin-1 Transgenic Mice. J. Neurosci., 2002, 22:2246–2254.

C.J.H. Kelnar, C. McKinnell, M. Walker, K.D. Morris, W.H.B. Wallace, P.T.K. Saunders, H.M. Fraser, R.M. Sharpe  Testicular changes during infantile ‘quiescence’ in the marmoset and their gonadotrophin dependence: a model for investigating susceptibility of the prepubertal human testis to cancer therapy? Human Reproduction, 2002, 17:1367-1378.

Inna I. Kruman, T. S. Kumaravel, Althaf Lohani, Ward A. Pedersen, Roy G. Cutler, Yuri Kruman, Norman Haughey, Jaewon Lee, Michele Evans, and Mark P. Mattson Folic Acid Deficiency and Homocysteine Impair DNA Repair in Hippocampal Neurons and Sensitize Them to Amyloid Toxicity in Experimental Models of Alzheimer's DiseaseJ. Neurosci., 2002, 22:1752–1762.

Mouton PR, Gokhale AM, Ward NL, West MJ. Stereological Length Estimation Using Spherical Probes. J. Microscopy, 206: 54-64, 2002

Mouton, P.R., J.M. Long, E.A. Stocks, S. Rim, V. Howard, M. Jucker, M.E. Calhoun, D.K. Ingram. Age and Gender-based Differences in Astrocytes And Microglia in Hippocampal Subregions of C57BL/6J Mice. Brain Research 956:30-35, 2002.

Zanjani HS, , Vogel MW, Delhaye-Bouchaud N, Martinou JC, Mariani J. Increased cerebellar Purkinje cell numbers in mice overexpressing a human bcl-2 transgene. J Comp Neurol. 1996 Oct 21;374(3):332-41.

Govek EK, Wang J, Swann JM. Sex differences in the magnocellular subdivision of the medial preoptic nucleus in Syrian hamsters. Neuroscience. 2003;116(2):593-8.

Liu Z, Gastard M, Verina T, Bora S, Mouton PR, Koliatsos VE. Estrogens modulate experimentally induced apoptosis of granule cells in the adult hippocampus. J Comp Neurol 441:1-8, 2001.

Jucker M, Bondolfi L, Calhoun ME, Long JM, Ingram DK. Structural brain aging in inbred mice: potential for genetic linkage, Exp Gerontol 35:1383-1388, 2000.

Holtzman DM, Bales KR, Tenkova T, Fagan AM, Parsadanian M, Sartorius LJ, Mackey B, Olney J, McKeel D, Wozniak D, Paul SM. Apolipoprotein E isoform-dependent amyloid deposition and neuritic degeneration in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 14;97(6):2892-2897, 2000.

Farber NB, Rubin EH, Newcomer JW, Kinscherf DA, Miller JP, Morris JC, Olney JW, McKeel DW Jr. Increased neocortical neurofibrillary tangle density in subjects with Alzheimer disease and psychosis. Arch Gen Psychiatry 57:1165-1173, 2000.

Lee J, Duan W, Long JM, Ingram DK, Mattson MP. Dietary restriction increases the number of newly generated neural cells, and induces BDNF expression, in the dentate gyrus of rats. J Mol Neurosci 15(2): 99-108, 2000.

Calhoun ME, Mouton PR. New Developments In Neurostereology:Length Measurement And 3D Imagery. JChemNeuroanat1:61-9,2000.

Calhoun ME, Kurth D, Phinney AL, Long JM, Hengemihle J, Mouton PR, Ingram DK, Jucker M. Hippocampal neuron and synaptophysin-positive bouton number in aging C57BL/6 mice. Neurobiol Aging 1998 Nov; 19(6):599-606

Phinney AL, Calhoun ME, Wolfer DP, Lipp HP, Zheng H, Jucker M. No hippocampal neuron or synaptic bouton loss in learning-impaired aged beta-amyloid precursor protein-null mice. Neuroscience 90(4): 1207-1216, 1999.

Long JM, Mouton PR, Jucker M, Ingram DK: What Counts In Brain Aging? Design-Based Stereological Analysis Of Cell Number. J. Gerontology 54A: B407-B417, 1999.

Long JM, Mouton PR, Jucker M, Ingram DK. What counts in brain aging? Design-based stereological analysis of cell number. J Gerontol 54(10):B407-B417, 1999

Calhoun M.E., Wiederhold K.H., Abramowski D., Phinney A.L., Probst A., Sturcher-Pierrat C., Staufenbiel M., Sommer B., Jucker M. Neuron loss in APP transgenic mice. Nature, 395, 755-756, 1998.

Long, J.M., Kalehua A.N., Muth N.J., Hengemihle J.M., Jucker M., Calhoun M.E., Ingram D.K., and Mouton P.R. Stereological estimation oftotal microglia number in mouse hippocampus. J. Neuroscience Methods 1: 84:101-108, 1998.

Mouton PR, Martin LJ, Calhoun ME, Dal Forno G, Troncoso JC, Price DL. Cognitive Decline Strongly Correlates With Cortical Atrophy In Alzheimer’s Dementia. Neurobiol. Aging, 19: 371-377, 1998.

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