A software package for the manipulation, display and analysis of electron and light microscope data.

Abstract

Quantitative light and electron microscopy is an expanding field which has found applications in many biological disciplines. Computer-enhanced data-acquisition has led to increased speed and accuracy, and combined with computational analysis, stereological parameters can be quickly derived and spatial hypotheses can be easily tested. A software package is described, which controls the manipulation, display and analysis of two-dimensional microscope data. Features include alignment of specimens, rotations, translations, deletions, recoding, perimeter and area measurement, point-counts, tests of dispersion and tests of spatial distributions. The programme is graphics-orientated and supports various point-plot modes and histograms. It includes linear and non-linear curve-fitting options and has been specifically designed to encourage new analysis procedures, which automatically benefit from existing graphics options.