Picrosirius Red Polarization Staining: A Technique To Detect Fibrosis in Cardiac Tissue Sections Using Bright-Field Microscopy

Abstract

Source: Ku, H. C. et al., A Model of Cardiac Remodeling Through Constriction of the Abdominal Aorta in Rats. J. Vis. Exp. (2016). 

This video describes the picrosirius red staining of fibrotic tissues to detect excessive collagen deposition in fibrotic tissue sections. The staining technique helps assess collagen expression in connective-tissue diseases.

Protocol

All procedures involving animal models have been reviewed by the local institutional animal care committee and the JoVE veterinary review board.

1. Tissue Fibrosis Quantification

1. Place the paraformaldehyde-fixed heart tissue on a tissue sectioning device and cut 2 mm thick sections. Place the tissue sections in an embedding cassette. Dehydrate the tissue through a series of graded alcohol baths (50%, 75%, 95%, and 100% for 1 hr each).
2. Infiltrate the tissue with xylene for 1 hr and finally in wax for 1 hr. Place the infiltrated tissue into an embedding cassette and embed with paraffin wax. Store the emb....

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Paraformaldehyde	Sigma Aldrich	441244
Picrosirius red solution	Abcam	ab150681
Imagequant	Molecular Dynamics