FociCounter: a freely available PC programme for quantitative and qualitative analysis of gamma-H2AX foci

Gamma-H2AX foci are sensitive and specific indicator for the induction of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and an immunocytochemical assay with antibodies recognizing gamma-H2AX has become the gold standard for the detection of this type of DNA lesion. Quantification of gamma-H2AX foci can be achieved by various methods such as Western blotting, flow cytometry, visual analysis and computational analysis with a fluorescence microscope. The best sensitivity is achieved by computer analysis. Since no freeware programme for the analysis of gamma-H2AX foci exists for a PC platform, the aim of our study was to develop a simple and user-friendly public-domain software. The algorithm applied in our programme allows determination of the number of foci in a single cell, a focus intensity per cell, as well as a cell intensity. Its graphical user interface is based on a GTK+ library and the whole application can be run under a variety of operating systems, including MS Windows and Linux. The programme called FociCounter is publicly available at http://focicounter.sourceforge.net. Application of the programme was tested by analysing gamma-H2AX foci in CHO and MO59K cells irradiated in vitro with X-rays and validated by comparing the results obtained with the outcome of automated image analysis and flow cytometry.