Multivariate profiling of neurodegeneration-associated changes in a subcellular compartment of neurons via image processing

Background: Dysfunction in the endolysosome, a late endosomal to lysosomal degradative intracellular compartment, is an early hallmark of some neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer's disease. However, the subtle morphological changes in compartments of affected neurons are difficult to quantify quickly and reliably, making this phenotype inaccessible as either an early diagnostic marker, or as a read-out for drug screening. Methods: We present a method for automatic detection of fluorescently labeled endolysosomes in degenerative neurons in situ. The Drosophila blue cheese (bchs) mutant was taken as a genetic neurodegenerative model for direct in situ visualization and quantification of endolysosomal compartments in affected neurons. Endolysosomal compartments were first detected automatically from 2-D image sections using a combination of point-wise multi-scale correlation and normalized correlation operations. This detection algorithm performed well at recognizing...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2008
• Where: BIODATAMINING
• Authors: Saravana K. Kumarasamy, Yunshi Wang, Vignesh Viswanathan, Rachel S. Kraut
• Keywords: BIODATAMINING 2008, Endolysosomal Compartments, Neurons, Wild Type