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Identifying the necrotic zone boundary in tumour spheroids with pair-correlation functions
S Dini1, B J Binder2, S C Fischer3
1School of Mathematical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia saber.dini@adelaide.edu.au.
Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
|October 14, 2016
Summary
We developed a new method using one-dimensional pair-correlation functions (PCFs) to accurately identify the necrotic zone boundary in tumor spheroids. This technique improves treatment assessment by overcoming challenges with low cell density differences.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Biophysics
- Computational Biology
Background:
- Accurate identification of the necrotic zone boundary in tumor spheroids is crucial for evaluating treatment efficacy.
- Challenges arise when cell density differences between viable and necrotic zones are minimal, hindering precise boundary determination.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a novel computational method for the automatic identification of the necrotic zone boundary in tumor spheroids.
- To provide quantitative estimates of the necrotic zone boundary's radial distance from the spheroid's center.
Main Methods:
- Development of novel one-dimensional pair-correlation functions (PCFs) to analyze cell density distributions.
- Validation using synthetic tumor spheroids with known necrotic zone boundaries.
- Application to real tumor spheroids imaged via light sheet-based fluorescence microscopy.
Main Results:
- PCF method provided quantitative estimates for the necrotic zone boundary.
- The approach was validated on synthetic models and applied to real experimental data.
- Comparison with human expert and existing computational methods demonstrated the PCF approach's utility.
Conclusions:
- One-dimensional pair-correlation functions offer a robust method for determining necrotic zone boundaries in tumor spheroids.
- This technique enhances the quantitative assessment of treatments in in vitro tumor models, especially in challenging low-contrast scenarios.
