Image based measurements of single cell mtDNA mutation load

Abstract

Cell cultures as well as cells in tissue always display a certain degree of variability, and measurements based on cell averages will miss important information contained in a heterogeneous population. This paper presents automated methods for image based measurements of mitochondiral DNA (mtDNA) mutations in individual cells. The mitochondria are present in the cell's cytoplasm, and each cytoplasm has to be delineated. Three different methods for segmentation of cytoplasms are compared and it is shown that automated cytoplasmic delineation can be performed 30 times faster than manual delineation, with an accuracy as high as 87%. The final image based measurements of mitochondrial mutation load are also compared to, and show high agreement with, measurements made using biochemical techniques. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.