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. 2020 May 20;10(10):e3629.
doi: 10.21769/BioProtoc.3629.

Analysis of Generalized Fibrosis in Mouse Tissue Sections with Masson's Trichrome Staining

Diantha Van De Vlekkert  1 , Eda Machado  1 , Alessandra d'Azzo  1
Affiliations

Analysis of Generalized Fibrosis in Mouse Tissue Sections with Masson's Trichrome Staining

Diantha Van De Vlekkert et al. Bio Protoc. .

Abstract

Expansion of fibrous connective tissue and abnormal deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) are at the basis of many fibrotic diseases. Fibrosis can occur in response to both physiological and pathological cues, including wound healing, tissue remodeling/repair and inflammation. Chronic fibrosis can lead to severe tissue damage, organ failure and death. Assessing the extent of organ fibrosis is crucial for accurate diagnosis of this condition. The use of Masson's trichrome staining of tissue sections from skeletal muscle is a fast method for detection of morphological alterations indicative of a fibrotic phenotype in this organ. This staining method detects the extent of collagen fibers deposition and, because it employs the combination of three dyes, can also distinguish muscle fibers (red), from collagen (blue) and nuclei (black), simultaneously.

Keywords: Collagen; Fibroblasts; Fibrosis; Masson’s Trichrome; Skeletal muscle; Tissue section.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interestsThe authors have no conflict of interest or competing interests to declare.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Masson’s Trichrome staining of multiple organs collected from the WT and Neu1–/– mice.
Fibrotic regions in the Neu1–/– mouse are characterize by massive collagen deposition and therefore appear in blue (asterisks) (Images of WT and Neu1–/– kidney, liver and skeletal muscle are from van de Vlekkert et al., 2019 ). Blue = collagens; Red = erythrocytes and cytoplasm; Dark purple/black = nuclei. Scale bars: kidney and liver = 100 μm, heart, lung and skeletal muscle = 200 μm.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Thoracic cavity.
Image of the mouse thoracic cavity showing the anatomical structures in reference to the position of the perfusion needle. The aorta and inferior vena cava are marked with dashed lines.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Embedding positions of the GA muscles
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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