Improved Preservation of Mouse Intestinal Tissue Using a Formalin/Acetic Acid Fixative and Quantitative Histological...

Area of Science:

• Histology
• Molecular Biology
• Bioengineering

Background:

• Intestinal tissue architecture is fragile and difficult to preserve for histological and molecular analysis.
• Traditional fixation methods often lead to significant tissue changes, impairing the reliability of histologic analysis.
• Poor-quality histologic sections hinder quantitative image-based tissue analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel fixative for improved preservation of mouse intestinal tissue.
• To enable precise and reproducible histologic and molecular analyses of intestinal tissue.
• To facilitate automated segmentation and analysis of intestinal compartments using QuPath software.

Main Methods:

• A new fixative, FA, was developed using neutral buffered formalin (NBF) and acetic acid.
• Mouse intestinal tissue was fixed using FA and compared to traditional NBF fixation.
• Quantitative tissue analysis was performed using QuPath software with algorithmic training for automated segmentation.

Main Results:

• The FA fixative significantly improved the histology of mouse intestinal tissue compared to NBF.
• The improved histology enabled precise and reproducible histologic molecular analyses.
• Automated segmentation of intestinal compartments using QuPath was achieved for further interrogation.

Conclusions:

• The FA fixative offers superior preservation of mouse intestinal tissue morphology and architecture.
• This improved preservation facilitates reliable quantitative histologic and molecular analyses.
• The combination of FA fixation and QuPath software enables advanced automated analysis of intestinal tissue for research and disease study.