title: The inter- and intra-operator variability in manual spot segmentation and its effect on spot quantitation in two-dimensional electrophoresis analysis.
abstract: Separation of complex mixtures of proteins by 2-DE is a fundamental component of current proteomic technology. Quantitative analysis of the images generated by digitization of such gels is critical for identifying alterations in protein expression within a given biological system. Software packages are designed for this purpose. The accurate definition of protein spot boundaries, using a suitable method of image segmentation, is a key requirement for image analysis. It is often necessary for operators to intervene manually to correct mistakes in spot segmentation; therefore operator subjectivity and differences in ability can weaken the analysis. We estimated the error in spot quantification after manual spot segmentation, which was performed by different operators, using two different software packages. Our results clearly show that this operation was associated with significant inter- and intra-variability and an overestimation of subsequent spot intensity, especially when spots were weak. For comparative studies, we suggest separately analysing spots which have been manually segmented by imposing a requirement for at least a threefold difference in spot intensity in addition to use of statistical tests.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Chair of Metabolism, University of Padova, Padova, Italy. millionirenato@gmail.com
authors.forename: Renato
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Millioni
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sbrignadello
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tura
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Iori
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tessari
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software