Morphometry to identify subtypes of leukocytes.
BACKGROUND
Recent studies in image cytometry evaluated the replacement of specific markers by morphological parameters. The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a method to identify subtypes of leukocytes using morphometric data of the nuclei.


METHODS
The analyzed images were generated with a laser scanning cytometer. Two free programs were used for image analysis and statistical evaluation: Cellprofiler and Tanagra respectively. A sample of leukocytes with 200 sets of images (DAPI, CD45 and CD14) was analyzed. Using feature selection, the 20 best parameters were chosen to conduct cross-validation.


RESULTS
The morphometric data identified the subpopulations of the analyzed leukocytes with a sensitivity and specificity of 0.95 per sample.


CONCLUSIONS
The present study is the first that identifies subpopulations of leukocytes by nuclear morphology.
Master's Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vila Velha (UVV), Vila Velha, ES, Brazil.
Pablo B
PB
Tozetti
Master's Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vila Velha (UVV), Vila Velha, ES, Brazil.
Ewelyne M
EM
Lima
Master's Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vila Velha (UVV), Vila Velha, ES, Brazil.
Andrews M
AM
Nascimento
Master's Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vila Velha (UVV), Vila Velha, ES, Brazil.
Denise C
DC
Endringer
Master's Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vila Velha (UVV), Vila Velha, ES, Brazil.
Fernanda E
FE
Pinto
Master's Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vila Velha (UVV), Vila Velha, ES, Brazil.
Tadeu U
TU
Andrade
Translational Centre for Regenerative Medicine (TRM), University of Leipzig, Germany; Heart Center Leipzig, University of Leipzig, Germany.
Anja
A
Mittag
Heart Center Leipzig, University of Leipzig, Germany.
Attila
A
Tarnok
Master's Program in Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Vila Velha (UVV), Vila Velha, ES, Brazil. Electronic address: Dominik.lenz@gmail.com.
Dominik
D
Lenz
D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D047569:Laser Scanning Cytometry / Q000379:methods*; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
Image cytometry; Leukocyte count; Machine learning; Morphometry; Quantitative imaging; Texture