ANDA: an open-source tool for automated image analysis of in vitro neuronal cells

Abstract

Background: Imaging of in vitro neuronal differentiation and measurements of cell morphologies have led to novel insights into neuronal development. Live-cell imaging techniques and large datasets of images have increased the demand for automated pipelines for quantitative analysis of neuronal morphological metrics. Results: ANDA is an analysis workflow that quantifies various aspects of neuronal morphology from high-throughput live-cell imaging screens of in vitro neuronal cell types. This tool automates the analysis of neuronal cell numbers, neurite lengths and neurite attachment points. We used chicken, rat, mouse, and human in vitro models for neuronal differentiation and have demonstrated the accuracy, versatility, and efficiency of the tool. Conclusions: ANDA is an open-source tool that is easy to use and capable of automated processing from time-course measurements of neuronal cells. The strength of this pipeline is the capability to analyse high-throughput imaging screens.