title: A novel multiphoton microscopy images segmentation method based on superpixel and watershed.
abstract: Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) imaging technique based on two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) and second harmonic generation (SHG) shows fantastic performance for biological imaging. The automatic segmentation of cellular architectural properties for biomedical diagnosis based on MPM images is still a challenging issue. A novel multiphoton microscopy images segmentation method based on superpixels and watershed (MSW) is presented here to provide good segmentation results for MPM images. The proposed method uses SLIC superpixels instead of pixels to analyze MPM images for the first time. The superpixels segmentation based on a new distance metric combined with spatial, CIE Lab color space and phase congruency features, divides the images into patches which keep the details of the cell boundaries. Then the superpixels are used to reconstruct new images by defining an average value of superpixels as image pixels intensity level. Finally, the marker-controlled watershed is utilized to segment the cell boundaries from the reconstructed images. Experimental results show that cellular boundaries can be extracted from MPM images by MSW with higher accuracy and robustness.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of OptoElectronic Science and Technology for Medicine of Ministry of Education Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.|Department of Network and Communication Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.
authors.forename: Weilin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Fujian Provincial Cancer Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350014, China.
authors.forename: Jinyong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of OptoElectronic Science and Technology for Medicine of Ministry of Education Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.|Department of Network and Communication Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of OptoElectronic Science and Technology for Medicine of Ministry of Education Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.|Department of Network and Communication Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of OptoElectronic Science and Technology for Medicine of Ministry of Education Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.|Department of Network and Communication Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.
authors.forename: Mingyu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of OptoElectronic Science and Technology for Medicine of Ministry of Education Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.|Department of Network and Communication Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.
authors.forename: Gaoqiang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of OptoElectronic Science and Technology for Medicine of Ministry of Education Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.|Department of Network and Communication Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.
authors.forename: Jianyong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of OptoElectronic Science and Technology for Medicine of Ministry of Education Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.|Department of Network and Communication Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.
authors.forename: Guannan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of OptoElectronic Science and Technology for Medicine of Ministry of Education Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.|Department of Network and Communication Engineering, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350007, China.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D001706:Biopsy; D004425:Ear Cartilage / Q000166:cytology; D051472:Elastic Cartilage / Q000166:cytology; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D036641:Microscopy, Fluorescence, Multiphoton / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D011817:Rabbits
keywords: image segmentation; multiphoton microscopy; phase congruency feature; superpixels; watershed