Detection, Isolation and Quantification of Myocardial Infarct with Four Different Histological Staining Techniques

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The precise quantification of myocardial infarction is crucial for evaluating therapeutic strategies. We developed a robust, color-based semi-automatic algorithm capable of infarct region detection, isolation and quantification with four different histological staining techniques, and of the isolation and quantification of diffuse fibrosis in the heart. METHODS: Our method is developed based on the color difference in the infarct and non-infarct regions after histological staining. Mouse cardiac tissues stained with Masson's trichrome (MTS), hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), 2,3,5-Triphenyltetrazolium chloride and picrosirius red were included to demonstrate the performance of our method. RESULTS: We demonstrate that our algorithm can effectively identify and produce a clear visualization of infarct tissue in the four staining techniques. Notably, the infarct region on an H&E-stained tissue section can be clearly visualized after processing. The MATLAB-based program we developed holds promise for infarct quantification. Additionally, our program can isolate and quantify diffuse fibrotic elements from an MTS-stained cardiac section, which suggests the algorithm's potential for evaluating pathological cardiac fibrosis in diseased cardiac tissues. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate that this color-based algorithm is capable of accurately identifying, isolating and quantifying cardiac infarct regions with different staining techniques, as well as diffuse and patchy fibrosis in MTS-stained cardiac tissues.