Andrade G B, Riet-Correa F, Montes G S, Battlehner C N, Saldiva P H
Regional Diagnostic Laboratory, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Pelotas University, Brazil.
Eur J Histochem. 1997;41(3):203-9.
This work was designed to verify if a simple quantitative procedure to estimate the state of collagen aggregation is useful in describing the natural history of a fibrous process. For this purpose sixteen cases of Lechiguana lesion were used. Histochemical evaluation of the collagen content and its state of aggregation was done by the Picrosirius-polarization method. Morphometric studies were done by means of a point-counting procedure, which allowed the determination of the areal fraction of thin and thick collagenous fibers within Lechiguana lesions collected at different times of clinical evolution (14 days through 8 months). Early lesions are characterized by thin collagenous fibers. This population of slender fibers decreases later on, when thick fibers become more prevalent. Curve fitting procedures were employed using the state of collagen aggregation as the dependent variable and time as the independent variable. The best fitting was obtained by linear and exponential functions. Statistical analysis indicates that the quantitative study of the degree of collagen organization allows an adequate determination of the time course of Lechiguana lesions. We concluded that simple determinations of collagen aggregation provide numerical data that may be useful to build mathematical models relating time of evolution of the disease to fibrosis.
本研究旨在验证一种简单的定量方法，以评估胶原蛋白聚集状态，该方法是否有助于描述纤维性病变的自然病程。为此，使用了16例莱奇瓜纳病变病例。采用天狼星红偏振法对胶原蛋白含量及其聚集状态进行组织化学评估。通过点计数法进行形态计量学研究，该方法可确定在临床演变的不同时间（14天至8个月）收集的莱奇瓜纳病变内细胶原纤维和粗胶原纤维的面积分数。早期病变以细胶原纤维为特征。随着时间推移，当粗纤维变得更为普遍时，这种细长纤维的数量会减少。以胶原蛋白聚集状态作为因变量、时间作为自变量，采用曲线拟合程序。通过线性和指数函数获得了最佳拟合。统计分析表明，对胶原组织程度的定量研究能够充分确定莱奇瓜纳病变的时间进程。我们得出结论，简单的胶原蛋白聚集测定可提供数值数据，这些数据可能有助于建立将疾病演变时间与纤维化相关联的数学模型。
