An open-source computational tool to automatically quantify immunolabeled retinal ganglion cells.

Exp Eye Res
Authors
Abstract

A fully automated and robust method was developed to quantify β-III-tubulin-stained retinal ganglion cells, combining computational recognition of individual cells by CellProfiler and a machine-learning tool to teach phenotypic classification of the retinal ganglion cells by CellProfiler Analyst. In animal models of glaucoma, quantification of immunolabeled retinal ganglion cells is currently performed manually and remains time-consuming. Using this automated method, quantifications of retinal ganglion cell images were accelerated tenfold: 1800 images were counted in 3 h using our automated method, while manual counting of the same images took 72 h. This new method was validated in an established murine model of microbead-induced optic neuropathy. The use of the publicly available software and the method's user-friendly design allows this technique to be easily implemented in any laboratory.

Year of Publication
2016
Journal
Exp Eye Res
Volume
147
Pages
50-6
Date Published
2016 Jun
ISSN
1096-0007
DOI
10.1016/j.exer.2016.04.012
PubMed ID
27119563
PubMed Central ID
PMC4903927
Links
Grant list
K08 HL111210 / HL / NHLBI NIH HHS / United States
R01 EY021543 / EY / NEI NIH HHS / United States
R01 EY022746 / EY / NEI NIH HHS / United States
R01 GM089652 / GM / NIGMS NIH HHS / United States