An open-source deconvolution software package for 3-D quantitative fluorescence microscopy imaging

Deconvolution techniques have been widely used for restoring the 3-D quantitative information of an unknown specimen observed using a wide-field fluorescence microscope. Deconv, an open-source deconvolution software package, was developed for 3-D quantitative fluorescence microscopy imaging and was released under the GNU Public License. Deconv provides numerical routines for simulation of a 3-D point spread function and deconvolution routines implemented three constrained iterative deconvolution algorithms: one based on a Poisson noise model and two others based on a Gaussian noise model. These algorithms are presented and evaluated using synthetic images and experimentally obtained microscope images, and the use of the library is explained. Deconv allows users to assess the utility of these deconvolution algorithms and to determine which are suited for a particular imaging application. The design of Deconv makes it easy for deconvolution capabilities to be incorporated into existing imaging applications.