Dear all,

I am measuring human muscle cross-sections from the vast lateralis. I found that at least 100 fibers are needed to reliably estimate fiber size (Variability in muscle fibre areas in whole human quadriceps muscle: how to reduce sampling errors in biopsy techniques - Lexell J and Taylor C, Clinical Physiology (1989) 9(4) 333-343).

I noticed though that most published studies count more than 100 fibers. So to be sure, I determined the average minimum Feret diameter based on +/- 250 fibers. As I work with muscle biopsies of elderly, there are some biopsies that contain very few type II fibers. In one subject, I could only find 14 type IIa fibers for example.

So I was wandering if you can make a reliable estimate based on less than 25 fibers per fiber type?

Is there anybody who has experience with this or knows an article that reports on this? I could not find any...

Best,

Sara