Automated cell counting in Bürker chamber

Abstract

Estimating the number of blood cells in a sample is an important task in biological research. However, manual counting of cells in microscopy images of counting chambers is very time-consuming. We present an image processing method for detecting the chamber grid and the cells, based on their similarity to an automatically selected sample cell. Due to this approach, the method does not depend on specific cell structure, and can be used for blood cells of different species without adjustments. If deemed appropriate, user interaction is allowed to select the sample cell and adjust the parameters manually. We also present the accuracy and speed evaluation of the method. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.