A Method for Astral Microtubule Tracking in Fluorescence Images of Cells Doped with Taxol and Nocodazole

Abstract

In this paper we explore detection and tracking of astral microtubules, a sub-population of microtubules which only exists during and immediately before mitosis and aids in the spindle orientation by connecting it to the cell cortex. Its analysis can be useful to determine the presence of certain diseases, such as brain pathologies and cancer. The proposed algorithm focuses on overcoming the problems regarding fluorescence microscopy images and microtubule behaviour by using various image processing techniques and is then compared with three existing algorithms, tested on consistent sets of images.

Detection and Tracking of Astral Microtubules in Fluorescence Microscopy Images

“…Our results are based upon fluorescence microscopy image stacks made available by the Department of Molecular Biotechnology and Health Sciences, University of Torino. A HeLa Kyoto cell line, expressing the fluorescent protein EB3-td Tomato, was chosen to carry out the experiments [6]. The cell culture was maintained in DMEM-GlutaMAX (Invitrogen) medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 100 U ml −1 penicillin, 100 µg ml −1 streptomycin, 200 µg ml −1 geneticin (Sigma) and 0.5 µg ml −1 puromycin.…”

“…However, it is worth pointing out that these algorithms have been tested on different data, not made available by the authors. A further approach, being developed at the Politecnico of Torino (Polito) [6], is being tested on the same stacks. The algorithm [6] does not use morphological operators to reduce false positive detections but it comprises a calibration phase.…”

“…A further approach, being developed at the Politecnico of Torino (Polito) [6], is being tested on the same stacks. The algorithm [6] does not use morphological operators to reduce false positive detections but it comprises a calibration phase. Preliminary comparison results are included in this paper.…”