title: Determination of collagen fiber orientation in histological slides using Mueller microscopy and validation by second harmonic generation imaging.
abstract: We studied the azimuthal orientations of collagen fibers in histological slides of uterine cervical tissue by two different microscopy techniques, namely Mueller polarimetry (MP) and Second Harmonic Generation (SHG). SHG provides direct visualization of the fibers with high specificity, which orientations is then obtained by suitable image processing. MP provides images of retardation (among other polarimetric parameters) due to the optical anisotropy of the fibers, which is enhanced by Picrosirius Red staining. The fiber orientations are then assumed to be those of the retardation slow axes. The two methods, though fully different from each other, provide quite similar maps of average fiber orientations. Overall, our results confirm that MP microscopy provides reliable images of dominant fiber orientations at a much lower cost that SHG, which remains the "gold standard" for specific imaging of collagen fibers using optical microscopy.
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bancelin
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nazac
authors.forename: Bicher Haj
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dokládal
authors.forename: Etienne
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Decencière
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Teig
authors.forename: Huda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Haddad
authors.forename: Hervé
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fernandez
authors.forename: Marie-Claire
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Schanne-Klein
authors.forename: Antonello
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: De Martino
mesh_terms: D016880:Anisotropy; D003094:Collagen / Q000737:chemistry*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000737:chemistry*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D008859:Microscopy, Polarization / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen