The intention of this short primer is to raise your appetite for proper quantitative assessment of lung micro-structure. The method of choice for obtaining such data is stereology. Rooted in stochastic geometry, stereology provides simple and efficient tools to obtain quantitative three-dimensional information based on measurements on nearly two-dimensional microscopic sections. In this primer, the basic concepts of stereology and its application to the lung are introduced step by step along the workflow of a stereological study. The integration of stereology in your laboratory work will help to improve its quality. In a broader context, stereology may also be seen as a contribution to good scientific practice.
Keywords: Alveoli; Dimension trap; Disector; Histology; Lung; Microscopy; Morphometry; Reference trap; Sampling; Stereology.
© 2021. The Author(s).