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Cellular Oncology
Published in: Cellular Oncology 4/2011

Open Access 01-08-2011 | Original Paper

Rapid quantification of myocardial fibrosis: a new macro-based automated analysis

Authors: Awal M. Hadi, Koen T. B. Mouchaers, Ingrid Schalij, Katrien Grunberg, Gerrit A. Meijer, Anton Vonk-Noordegraaf, Willem J. van der Laarse, Jeroen A. M. Beliën

Published in: Cellular Oncology | Issue 4/2011

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Abstract

Background

Fibrosis is associated with various cardiac pathologies and dysfunction. Current quantification methods are time-consuming and laborious. We describe a semi-automated quantification technique for myocardial fibrosis and validated this using traditional methods.

Methods

Pulmonary Hypertension (PH) was induced in adult Wistar rats by subcutaneous monocrotaline (MCT) injection(40 mg/kg). Cryosections of myocardial tissue (5 μm) of PH rats (n = 9) and controls (n = 9) were stained using Picrosirius red and scanned with a digital microscopic MIRAX slide scanner. From these sections 21 images were taken randomly of each heart. Using ImageJ software a macro for automated image analysis of the amount of fibrosis was developed. For comparison, fibrosis was quantified using traditional polarisation microscopy. Both methods were correlated and validated against stereology as the gold standard. Furthermore, the method was tested in paraffin-embedded human tissues.

Results

Automated analysis showed a significant increase of fibrosis in PH hearts vs. control. Automated analysis correlated with traditional polarisation and stereology analysis (r 2 = 0.92 and r 2 = 0.95 respectively). In human heart, lungs, kidney, and liver, a similar correlation with stereology (r 2 = 0.91) was observed. Time required for automated analysis was 22% and 33% of the time needed for stereology and polarisation analysis respectively.

Conclusion

Automated quantification of fibrosis is feasible, objective, and time-efficient.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Rapid quantification of myocardial fibrosis: a new macro-based automated analysis
Authors
Awal M. Hadi
Koen T. B. Mouchaers
Ingrid Schalij
Katrien Grunberg
Gerrit A. Meijer
Anton Vonk-Noordegraaf
Willem J. van der Laarse
Jeroen A. M. Beliën
Publication date
01-08-2011
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Published in
Cellular Oncology / Issue 4/2011
Print ISSN: 2211-3428
Electronic ISSN: 2211-3436
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s13402-011-0035-7

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