A novel method for semiautomated assessment of directions of collagen fibers in soft tissues using histological image analysis is presented. It is based on multiple rotated images obtained via polarized light microscopy without any additional components, i.e., with just two polarizers being either perpendicular or nonperpendicular (rotated). This arrangement breaks the limitation of 90° periodicity of polarized light intensity and evaluates the in-plane fiber orientation over the whole 180° range accurately and quickly. After having verified the method, we used histological specimens of porcine Achilles tendon and aorta to validate the proposed algorithm and to lower the number of rotated images needed for evaluation. Our algorithm is capable to analyze 5·105 pixels in one micrograph in a few seconds and is thus a powerful and cheap tool promising a broad application in detection of collagen fiber distribution in soft tissues.

• MeSH
• Achilles Tendon metabolism   MeSH
• Algorithms MeSH
• Extracellular Matrix metabolism   MeSH
• Collagen metabolism   MeSH
• Microscopy methods   MeSH
• Optical Imaging methods   MeSH
• Image Processing, Computer-Assisted methods   MeSH
• Microscopy, Polarization methods   MeSH
• Swine MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• Collagen MeSH