Morphological Methods for Assessment of Fibrosis

Morphological methods can provide valuable spatial information about the development and progression of fibrosis, as well as facilitating efficient assessment of the response to interventions. Morphologically based techniques such as immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization can also contribute to understanding the relationship between cellular expression of mediators and the development of fibrosis. This chapter focuses on simple histological staining methods and morphometric techniques to quantify fibrosis in specific tissue compartments. Issues related to sampling and the use of interactive computer-assisted measurement are discussed, and pitfalls associated with automated measurement are examined.