Easily adaptable Fiji macro for mean linear intercept measurement of peripheral respiratory airspace.

Background: Mean linear intercept (MLI) is a method of evaluating lung structure and pathology that is widely used in clinical and research settings. Unfortunately, no widely available software for automation of this process is available, and many clinicians and scientists still perform these measurements manually.

Results: To increase the speed and accuracy of obtaining MLI measurements, we have developed a macro for Fiji is just ImageJ (Fiji) to semi-automate the acquisition of these measurements. Twenty to 25 images from each of 43 mouse lungs, a total of 1042 images, were analyzed manually and by macro (automated) to validate the accuracy of the MLI macro. No significant difference was recorded between the manual and automated methods in mouse lung tissue of either different age (P14, P21, 8 weeks) or different condition (healthy vs. emphysema). Optimization of MLI macro parameters showed that additional measurements beyond three lines per image did not further improve accuracy. We also provide an Excel macro that summarizes the airspace data for each image and averages all the image data in a given batch of images.

Conclusion: This Fiji macro can be used to automate MLI measurement in histological sections of lung tissue faster and with lower variance.