Extended morphological processing: a practical method for automatic spot detection of biological markers from microscopic images

Background: A reliable extraction technique for resolving multiple spots in light or electron microscopic images is essential in investigations of the spatial distribution and dynamics of specific proteins inside cells and tissues. Currently, automatic spot extraction and characterization in complex microscopic images poses many challenges to conventional image processing methods. Results: A new method to extract closely located, small target spots from biological images is proposed. This method starts with a simple but practical operation based on the extended morphological top-hat transformation to subtract an uneven background. The core of our novel approach is the following: first, the original image is rotated in an arbitrary direction and each rotated image is opened with a single straight line-segment structuring element. Second, the opened images are unified and then subtracted from the original image. To evaluate these procedures, model images of simulated spots with closely ...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: BMCBI
• Authors: Yoshitaka Kimori, Norio Baba, Nobuhiro Morone
• Keywords: BMCBI 2010, Image, Microscopic Images, Target Spots