Measuring Collagen Concentration in Histology Slides of Mice Skin Using the Adobe^® Photoshop^® Software

Osama Abbadi, S.

Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Omdurman Islamic University, Sudan

Dr. Osama Abbadi, S., Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Omdurman Islamic University, Sudan. Current address: Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, P.O.Box: 22490, Riyadh 11426.

Keywords: Collagen; Software; Histology; Slide Imaging

Abstract

Background
Collagen is the most abundant protein. It is distributed in almost all body tissues and serves structural and functional roles. The measuring techniques of collagen do not display a percentage of the protein unless it is in a soluble form. It would be useful to obtain a percent measurement of collagen level within the tissue of interest.
Study Objective
To estimate collagen concentration in histology slides by the use of Adobe® Photoshop® software, and comparing the results between three different histological stains.
Materials and Methods
Skin samples were taken from twelve albino mice and stained with masson’s trichrome, van Gieson, and Verhoeff van Gieson’s stains to visualize collagen fibers. Slides were photographed with high resolution digital cameras at (x40) magnification. The software program enabled us to isolate the part of the photos with collagen and to calculate the percent of that part from the total photo.

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