Image processing and supervised machine learning for retinal microglia characterization in senescence.
Methods Cell Biol
; 181: 109-125, 2024.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38302234
ABSTRACT
The process of senescence impairs the function of cells and can ultimately be a key factor in the development of disease. With an aging population, senescence-related diseases are increasing in prevalence. Therefore, understanding the mechanisms of cellular senescence within the central nervous system (CNS), including the retina, may yield new therapeutic pathways to slow or even prevent the development of neuro- and retinal degenerative diseases. One method of probing the changing functions of senescent retinal cells is to observe retinal microglial cells. Their morphological structure may change in response to their surrounding cellular environment. In this chapter, we show how microglial cells in the retina, which are implicated in aging and diseases of the CNS, can be identified, quantified, and classified into five distinct morphotypes using image processing and supervised machine learning algorithms. The process involves dissecting, staining, and mounting mouse retinas, before image capture via fluorescence microscopy. The resulting images can then be classified by morphotype using a support vector machine (SVM) we have recently described showing high accuracy. This SVM model uses shape metrics found to correspond with qualitative descriptions of the shape of each morphotype taken from existing literature. We encourage more objective and widespread use of methods of quantification such as this. We believe automatic delineation of the population of microglial cells in the retina, could potentially lead to their use as retinal imaging biomarkers for disease prediction in the future.
Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Retina
/
Microglia
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
/
Qualitative_research
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limite:
Animals
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Methods Cell Biol
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article
País de afiliação:
Reino Unido