title: Automated analysis of giant unilamellar vesicles using circular Hough transformation.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In order to obtain statistically relevant results, the study of membrane effects at the single-vesicle level requires the analysis of several hundreds of giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), which becomes a very time-consuming task if carried out manually. Complete and user-friendly software for fast and bias-free automated analysis has not been reported yet.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We developed a framework for the automated detection, tracking and analysis of individual GUVs on digital microscopy images. Our tool is suited to quantify protein binding to membranes as well as several aspects of membrane permeabilization on single vesicles. We demonstrate the applicability of the approach by comparing alternative activation methods for Bax, a pore-forming protein involved in mitochondrial permeabilization during apoptosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The complete software is implemented in MATLAB (The MathWorks, Inc., USA) and available as a standalone as well as the full source code at http://www.ifib.uni-tuebingen.de/research/garcia-saez/guv-software.html.
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569 Stuttgart and Interfaculty Institute for Biochemistry, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Straße 4, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Eduard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hermann
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569 Stuttgart and Interfaculty Institute for Biochemistry, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Straße 4, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bleicken
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569 Stuttgart and Interfaculty Institute for Biochemistry, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Straße 4, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Yamunadevi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Subburaj
authors.affiliation: Max-Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstr. 3, 70569 Stuttgart and Interfaculty Institute for Biochemistry, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Straße 4, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ana J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: García-Sáez
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D012984:Software; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D008565:Membrane Proteins; D053835:Unilamellar Liposomes; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein