Picrosirius Red Staining A Useful Tool to Appraise Collagen Networks in Normal and Pathological Tissues

• Published in: The journal of histochemistry and cytochemistry Vol. 62; no. 10; pp. 751 - 758
• Main Authors: Lattouf, Raed, Younes, Ronald, Lutomski, Didier, Naaman, Nada, Godeau, Gaston, Senni, Karim, Changotade, Sylvie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.10.2014
• Subjects: Adult; Azo Compounds - analysis; Collagen - analysis; Collagen - metabolism; Connective Tissue - metabolism; Connective Tissue - pathology; Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - metabolism; Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - pathology; Female; Humans; Light; Male; Microscopy; Skin - cytology; Skin - metabolism; Skin - pathology; Staining and Labeling - methods; Young Adult; birefringence; collagen fibers; picrosirius red staining polarized light; Ehlers-Danlos syndrome
• ISSN: 0022-1554; 1551-5044; 1551-5044
• DOI: 10.1369/0022155414545787

Specific staining of the extracellular matrix components is especially helpful in studying tissue remodeling, particularly in the case of connective tissue pathologies. As developed by Junqueira and colleagues in 1979, specific staining by Picrosirius red is one of the most important stains to study collagen networks in different tissues. Under polarized light, collagen bundles appear green, red or yellow, and are easily differentiated from the black background, thus allowing for quantitative morphometric analysis. As Junqueira and colleagues point out, many studies use color staining to differentiate collagen bundles and to specify collagen types, yet other studies report that polarized colors only reflect fiber thickness and packing. Using a simple histological example, our study illustrates the inability of Picrosirius red staining to differentiate collagen types, since the absorbed amount of polarized light by this dye strictly depends on the orientation of the collagen bundles.