Many different staining techniques are used in the analysis of muscle tissue. The preferred staining method depends on the type of data to be collected.

Nuclei located in the center of myofibers tend to be associated with myofiber regeneration and certain types of muscular dystrophy. The number of centrally located nuclei per myofiber is one of the data points collected by the myofiber analysis tools in BIOQUANT.

Using immunofluorescent laminin staining, BIOQUANT can automatically measure the number, size, position, and circularity of myofibers in an entire cross-section.

The primary benefit of automated muscle analysis is that labs can measure entire sections in the time it used to take to measure a handful of random fields of view. This helps compensate for inherent biological variability in tissues and helps improve the statistical power of the data.

Immunofluorescent labeling makes it possible to perform muscle fibertyping on a single physical section. This significantly reduces the complexity and time required for the analysis. The addition of a specific label for either dystrophin or laminin further improves automation.

Immunohistochemical staining with DAB chromogen is relatively straightforward and targeted toward specific fiber types. However, the use of a single color means that sequential sections are still required.