Automatic nuclear bud detection using ellipse fitting, moving sticks or top-hat transformation

Micronucleus assays are extensively used by biologists to assess genotoxicity and to monitor human exposure to genotoxic materials. As recent studies suggested that nuclear buds can be a new source of micronuclei formed in interphase, the quantification of nuclear buds, which are micronucleus like objects that are attached to the nuclei in interphase, in normal and control group is needed. Three automatic nuclear bud detection algorithms fit for different situations are proposed in this paper. One is based on ellipse fitting, one is based on a stick model and the other is based on the top-hat transform. Comparison of the three methods is also given in this paper. Experimental results showed that the proposed algorithms are all effective and efficient for nuclear bud detection.