Faster research through automation: New way to count micronuclei in
cells

Date:
September 17, 2021
Source:
University of Tsukuba
Summary:
Researchers have created a novel automated program that accurately
and quickly counts micronuclei in stained images. Micronuclei are
small nucleus-like structures that are markers of pathologies such
as cancer.

The development of this automated program will be useful for future
research into micronuclei and may aid in the diagnosis and tracking
of a range of pathologies.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Micronuclei, which are small nucleus-like structures within cells,
are commonly associated with tumors. Now, researchers from Tsukuba,
Japan have developed an automated computer program that can accurately
and reproducibly count these structures from microscope images, which
will increase the speed and accuracy of micronuclei research.


==========================================================================
In a recently published study, researchers from the University of Tsukuba reported their new MATLAB-based program, named CAMDi (Calculating
Automatic Micronuclei Distinction), which automatically counts the
micronuclei from images of stained cells. Micronuclei can be stained the
same way as regular nuclei, but they are differentiated from nuclei by
their much smaller size.

However, identifying them is easier said than done, because automatic
systems for counting micronuclei have traditionally used images taken
from just a single level of tissue. To understand why this is important, imagine cutting a cross-section through a ball that is fixed in space. If
you cut a slice closer to the top or bottom areas of the ball, the size
of the cross-section would be much smaller than if you chose a slice
closer to the center -- so a cross- section close to the periphery of
a nucleus can easily be mistaken for a micronucleus.

To combat this problem, researchers at the University of Tsukuba took
photos at different levels through cells or tissue and created a program capable of analyzing the resulting three-dimensional information. In this
way, they ensured that what the program counted as micronuclei were, in
fact, micronuclei. They then used this program to look at micronuclei in
mouse neurons and tested the effects of neuroinflammation on micronucleus numbers.

"A link has been reported between inflammation and micronuclei in
cancer cells," says corresponding author of the study Dr. Fuminori
Tsuruta. "We decided to test whether neuroinflammation in the brain
might affect the numbers of micronuclei in neurons." To do this, the researchers first introduced inflammatory factors into mouse neurons
grown in culture, but they found no changes in micronuclei number
using their CAMDi program. However, when they gave mice injections of lipopolysaccharides, which caused inflammatory cells in the hippocampal
region to become activated, there was an increase in micronuclei in the hippocampal neurons.

"These results were surprising," explains Dr. Tsuruta. "They suggest
that the formation of micronuclei in neurons is induced by inflammatory responses from nearby cells." Given that micronuclei are markers of
a range of pathologies, the development of this new computer program
could be very important for pathological diagnoses and the tracking of treatment responses. Research into micronuclei, to better understand their formation and roles in disease, will also be enhanced by the use of CAMDi.

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan JSPS KAKENHI (16KK0158) to FT and
JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists (19J20619) to SY.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Tsukuba. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Sarasa Yano, Kaito Akiyama, Rio Tsuchiya, Hikari Kubotani,
Tomoki Chiba,
Takeshi Nagata, Fuminori Tsuruta. A MATLAB-based program
for three- dimensional quantitative analysis of micronuclei
reveals that neuroinflammation induces micronuclei formation
in the brain. Scientific Reports, 2021; 11 (1) DOI:
10.1038/s41598-021-97640-6 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210917095408.htm

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