title: Micromeritic procedures in assessing antinuclear antibody patterns in immunofluorescent assay.
abstract: The aim of this study was to introduce a micromeritic procedure (a statistical approach for small objects) in indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) to find objective quantitative parameters of antinuclear antibody (ANA) patterns which could support a diagnosis of auto-immune diseases.
  
  
  
  Sera of patients with systemic autoimmune diseases, McCoy-Plovdiv serum-free cell line, goat anti-human immunoglobulin-G FITC-conjugate, fluorescent microscope, computer-assisted digital image processing, analysis using a micromeritic procedure, ANOVA.
  
  
  
  Three ANA fluorescent patterns (homogeneous, rim and speckled) were analyzed by the micromeritic procedure. Parameters for the image brightness of the pixels (pixel grey value) were obtained and discussed as objective characteristics of fluorescent patterns: maximum ANA-linkage volume and surface density were established for the objects with speckled localization pattern.
  
  
  
  The micromeritic method for getting objective quantitative values of ANA fluorescent patterns in indirect immunofluorescent assay might be a valuable tool aiding in immunological diagnosing if integrated in a laboratory software package.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology & Immunology
authors.forename: Mariana A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Murdjeva
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Biophysics & Mathematics, Faculty of Pharmacy
authors.forename: Emilia T
authors.initials: ET
authors.lastname: Milieva
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Public Health
authors.forename: Rumen S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Stefanov
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Medical University, Plovdiv, Bulgaria
authors.forename: Marian M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Draganov
authors.affiliation: Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofi a, Bulgaria
authors.forename: Petko B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Krastev
mesh_terms: D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear / Q000097:blood*; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D000974:Antibodies, Antinuclear