Table 1 Relative influence of the number of sections per animal and the number of animals per group on mucin detection levels. The numbers shown here represent the fold of changes over control group required to reach statistical significance.

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

2 sections

4.78

3.39

2.83

2.52

2.32

2.17

2.07

1.98

3 sections

4.22

3.08

2.61

2.34

2.17

2.04

1.95

1.88

4 sections

3.95

2.92

2.50

2.25

2.09

1.98

1.89

1.82

5 sections

3.79

2.83

2.43

2.20

2.05

1.94

1.85

1.79

Eosinophils

Number of animals

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

2 sections

8.79

5.46

4.25

3.61

3.22

2.94

2.74

2.58

3 sections

7.65

4.90

3.88

3.33

2.98

2.75

2.57

2.43

4 sections

7.11

4.63

3.69

3.19

2.87

2.65

2.48

2.35

5 sections

6.80

4.47

3.58

3.10

2.80

2.59

2.43

2.31

Neutrophils

Number of animals

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

2 sections

3.89

2.89

2.47

2.23

2.07

1.96

1.88

1.81

3 sections

3.69

2.77

2.38

2.16

2.02

1.91

1.83

1.77

4 sections

3.59

2.71

2.34

2.13

1.99

1.89

1.81

1.75

5 sections

3.53

2.68

2.31

2.11

1.97

1.87

1.79

1.73