A new approach to an unbiased estimate of the hepatic stellate cell index in the rat liver: an example in healthy conditions.

Evaluation of activation and proliferation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) must be grounded on solid quantitative data under normal conditions. The HSC index (HSCI), number of HSCs per 1000 hepatocytes (HEP), is often used in hepatology but has been never determined using stereology. Systematically sampled sections were immunostained against glial fibrillary acidic protein and carcinoembryonic antigen, allowing unequivocal distinction of HSC and mononuclear/binuclear HEP. With the optical disector the HSCI was estimated as 109 (coefficient of error = 0.04). This work provides a sound technical basis for experiments in which the estimation of HSCI and/or simultaneous quantification of HSC and HEP are relevant.