Membrane thickness

[stereologist]

I have been asked to write a paper on the unbiased determination of membrane thickness. I have a math background. I'd like to learn why membrane thickness is of importance or why someone would want to quantify membrane thickness.

The technique could be applied to the thickness of cell membrane, tissue layers, or any other structure that has thickness.

A direct answer or pointers on where to look in the literature would be great.

[stereologist]

The idea here is that membranes, or tissue layers are visible on a microscope slide. The problem is that the tissue is unlikely to be cut straight across. Is there a way to figure out how thick the layer is despite the inability to be certain that the slice of tissue is not taken square to the layer?

The answer is yes.

I just want to get an idea of why people want to measure the thickness. Does it give an idea of how well materials can cross the barrier? Can it be used to measure some pathological process? I'm keenly interested in finding out.

[stereologist]

Trying to breath some life into this question by adding some wmore material here. I've seen quite a few views on the topic, but so far little in the way of responses.

Anyone that has tried to measure the thickness of a biological layer could help me out by telling me what they were trying to learn. Thanks.