Can fractal dimension analysis be used in quantitating collagen structure?

Abstract

It is well known that collagen tissue, especially the collagen structure, plays an important role in wound healing. However, most research on collagen has been qualitative and morphological, based on sections, and cannot be used for real-time monitoring and clinical prediction. There are no standardized methods of quantitative analysis based on the whole skin sample in three dimensions (3-D). In order to explore a 3-D quantitative analysis, we developed a method that was derived from that of material science and physics, combined with our previous technique, X-ray scattering (SAXS). We hypothesized that the dermis might be analyzed by fractal dimensions. To test this hypothesis, we performed the analysis in different pathological conditions, such as scar tissue, different time points after wounding, skin in different degrees of burns, and skin in diabetes. The results showed that fractal dimension analysis could detect differences in different locations of the scar tissue, in different time points after wounding, and in a different extent of the severity of skin in diabetes. The research demonstrated that fractal dimension analysis can describe the 3-D structure of the collagen tissue of the skin, which will be beneficial for studying wound healing and finding new clinical treatments.