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Quantification of Cell-Substrate Adhesion Area and Cell Shape Distributions in MCF7 Cell Monolayers
Published on: June 24, 2020
Automated characterization of cell shape changes during amoeboid motility by skeletonization
Yuan Xiong1, Cathryn Kabacoff, Jonathan Franca-Koh
1Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
BMC Systems Biology
|March 26, 2010
Summary
This study introduces a novel method for analyzing cell migration, specifically amoeboid motility. The technique automatically quantifies pseudopodial behavior, offering deeper insights into cellular dynamics.
Area of Science:
- Cell Biology
- Biophysics
- Image Analysis
Background:
- Cell shape dynamics are vital for cellular functions like migration.
- Amoeboid motility involves cyclical shape changes (expansion/retraction).
- Existing methods lack detail on local pseudopodial activities.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an automated method for characterizing cell pseudopodial behavior.
- To provide a quantitative analysis of amoeboid motility dynamics.
Main Methods:
- Utilized skeletonization from morphological image processing.
- Developed algorithms for image segmentation, boundary smoothing, and branch pruning.
- Analyzed cell shape changes between frames to detect protrusion/retraction.
Main Results:
- Successfully detected and characterized pseudopodial protrusion and retraction activities.
- Clustered activities to represent individual pseudopod histories.
- Captured spatial, temporal, and stochastic features of pseudopodial dynamics.
Conclusions:
- The developed method offers a powerful tool for studying amoeboid motility.
- Enables detailed investigation of cell migration mechanisms.
- Illustrated on chemotaxing Dictyostelium cells.
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