High-throughput widefield fluorescence imaging of 3D samples using deep learning for 2D projection image restoration

PLoS One. 2022 May 19;17(5):e0264241. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264241. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Fluorescence microscopy is a core method for visualizing and quantifying the spatial and temporal dynamics of complex biological processes. While many fluorescent microscopy techniques exist, due to its cost-effectiveness and accessibility, widefield fluorescent imaging remains one of the most widely used. To accomplish imaging of 3D samples, conventional widefield fluorescence imaging entails acquiring a sequence of 2D images spaced along the z-dimension, typically called a z-stack. Oftentimes, the first step in an analysis pipeline is to project that 3D volume into a single 2D image because 3D image data can be cumbersome to manage and challenging to analyze and interpret. Furthermore, z-stack acquisition is often time-consuming, which consequently may induce photodamage to the biological sample; these are major barriers for workflows that require high-throughput, such as drug screening. As an alternative to z-stacks, axial sweep acquisition schemes have been proposed to circumvent these drawbacks and offer potential of 100-fold faster image acquisition for 3D-samples compared to z-stack acquisition. Unfortunately, these acquisition techniques generate low-quality 2D z-projected images that require restoration with unwieldy, computationally heavy algorithms before the images can be interrogated. We propose a novel workflow to combine axial z-sweep acquisition with deep learning-based image restoration, ultimately enabling high-throughput and high-quality imaging of complex 3D-samples using 2D projection images. To demonstrate the capabilities of our proposed workflow, we apply it to live-cell imaging of large 3D tumor spheroid cultures and find we can produce high-fidelity images appropriate for quantitative analysis. Therefore, we conclude that combining axial z-sweep image acquisition with deep learning-based image restoration enables high-throughput and high-quality fluorescence imaging of complex 3D biological samples.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Deep Learning*
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Imaging, Three-Dimensional / methods
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Optical Imaging

Grants and funding

EF is partly founded by Swedish National Strategic e-Science Research Program eSSENCE. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.