Quantitation of histochemical staining of salivary gland mucin using image analysis in cats and dogs.

摘要

Two computer-based, image analysis methods were used to complement subjective assessment of patterns of mucin staining (by periodic acid Schiff/alcian blue, aldehyde fuchsin/alcian blue and potassium hydroxide-alcian blue/phenylhydrazine hydrochloride) in digitised images of sections of major and minor salivary glands from cats and dogs. Image analysis based on red, green and blue (RGB) staining was not suitable for quantitative histochemical staining of mucin in salivary glands. Image analysis based on colour, saturation and lightness (HSL) allowed quantitative assessment of staining by different stain components and of mixed staining, and enabled comparison of staining of different glands in dogs and cats. Quantitative analysis based on HSL allowed differentiation of differences in staining patterns of major and minor cat and dog salivary glands, and between the species; such differences would have been impossible to distinguish on subjective grounds alone. Quantitative assessment of normal salivary gland histochemistry allows comparison with staining patterns in disease.