ANDA: an open-source tool for automated image analysis of in vitro neuronal cells

Hallvard Austin Wæhler; Nils-Anders Labba; Ragnhild Elisabeth Paulsen; Geir Kjetil Sandve; Ragnhild Eskeland

doi:10.1186/s12868-023-00826-z

ANDA: an open-source tool for automated image analysis of in vitro neuronal cells

BMC Neurosci. 2023 Oct 24;24(1):56. doi: 10.1186/s12868-023-00826-z.

Authors

Hallvard Austin Wæhler^{1

2

3}, Nils-Anders Labba^{1

4

2}, Ragnhild Elisabeth Paulsen^{4

2}, Geir Kjetil Sandve^{5

2}, Ragnhild Eskeland^{6

7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Blindern, 1112, 0317, Oslo, Norway.
² PharmaTox Strategic Research Initiative, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, 0316, Oslo, Norway.
³ Centre for Cancer Cell Reprogramming, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, 0317, Oslo, Norway.
⁴ Section for Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Biosciences, Department of Pharmacy, University of Oslo, 0316, Oslo, Norway.
⁵ Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, 0316, Oslo, Norway.
⁶ Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Blindern, 1112, 0317, Oslo, Norway. ragnhild.eskeland@medisin.uio.no.
⁷ PharmaTox Strategic Research Initiative, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, 0316, Oslo, Norway. ragnhild.eskeland@medisin.uio.no.
⁸ Centre for Cancer Cell Reprogramming, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, 0317, Oslo, Norway. ragnhild.eskeland@medisin.uio.no.

Abstract

Background: Imaging of in vitro neuronal differentiation and measurements of cell morphologies have led to novel insights into neuronal development. Live-cell imaging techniques and large datasets of images have increased the demand for automated pipelines for quantitative analysis of neuronal morphological metrics.

Results: ANDA is an analysis workflow that quantifies various aspects of neuronal morphology from high-throughput live-cell imaging screens of in vitro neuronal cell types. This tool automates the analysis of neuronal cell numbers, neurite lengths and neurite attachment points. We used chicken, rat, mouse, and human in vitro models for neuronal differentiation and have demonstrated the accuracy, versatility, and efficiency of the tool.

Conclusions: ANDA is an open-source tool that is easy to use and capable of automated processing from time-course measurements of neuronal cells. The strength of this pipeline is the capability to analyse high-throughput imaging screens.

Keywords: Automated image processing; High-throughput imaging; Neurite morphology; Neuronal differentiation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Animals
Cell Count
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / methods
Mice
Neurites* / physiology
Neurogenesis / physiology
Neurons*
Rats

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding