A boundary delimitation algorithm to approximate cell soma volumes of bipolar cells from topographical data obtained by scanning probe microscopy

BMC Bioinformatics

Methodology Article

Ralf Kunz¹  Patrick Happel²  Irmgard D Dietzel³  Kerstin Möller⁴ 

[1] Central Unit for Ionbeams and Radionuclides (RUBION), Ruhr University of Bochum, D-44780, Bochum, Germany;Central Unit for Ionbeams and Radionuclides (RUBION), Ruhr University of Bochum, D-44780, Bochum, Germany;Department of Molecular Neurobiochemistry, Ruhr University of Bochum, D-44780, Bochum, Germany;Department of Molecular Neurobiochemistry, Ruhr University of Bochum, D-44780, Bochum, Germany;Department of Molecular Neurobiochemistry, Ruhr University of Bochum, D-44780, Bochum, Germany;Department of Cardiovascular Physiology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany;

关键词: Cell Soma;    Bipolar Cell;    Volume Determination;    Zmax;    Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cell;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2105-11-323

 received in 2010-03-10, accepted in 2010-06-15,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundCell volume determination plays a pivotal role in the investigation of the biophysical mechanisms underlying various cellular processes. Whereas light microscopy in principle enables one to obtain three dimensional data, the reconstruction of cell volume from z-stacks is a time consuming procedure. Thus, three dimensional topographic representations of cells are easier to obtain by scanning probe microscopical measurements.ResultsWe present a method of separating the cell soma volume of bipolar cells in adherent cell cultures from the contributions of the cell processes from data obtained by scanning ion conductance microscopy. Soma volume changes between successive scans obtained from the same cell can then be computed even if the cell is changing its position within the observed area. We demonstrate that the estimation of the cell volume on the basis of the width and the length of a cell may lead to erroneous determination of cell volume changes.ConclusionsWe provide a new algorithm to repeatedly determine single cell soma volume and thus to quantify cell volume changes during cell movements occuring over a time range of hours.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Happel et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010