TY - GEN
T1 - Nuclear density analysis in microscopic images for the characterization of retinal geographic atrophy
AU - Peralta-Ildefonso, Martha J.
AU - Moya-Albor, Ernesto
AU - Brieva, Jorge
AU - Lira-Romero, Esmeralda
AU - Perez-Ortiz, Andric C.
AU - Coral-Vazquez, Ramon
AU - Estrada-Mena, Francisco J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© COPYRIGHT SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in industrialized countries. It is estimated that AMD affects at least 1 in 10 Hispanics. Previous reports have shown that AMD has multiple risk factors. Recently, we demonstrated that some genetic variants in the SGCD gene are involved in AMD developments, especially in early-stage (geographic atrophy, GA). Therefore, to evaluate the relationship between SGCD's absence and the loss of photoreceptors in GA, we worked with a genetically modified mouse model, SGCD deficient (Sgcd-/-) and a control mouse C57BL/6J (Sgcd+/+). First, we obtained hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) retina staining microscopic images. Then, we coarsely selected the outer and inner nuclear retinal layer (ONL and INL respectively) and finally, we applied an automatic nuclei segmentation to calculate the nuclear density in each region. Our results showed that Sgcd absence does not result in photoreceptor loss, on the contrary, it promotes an increment in nuclear density by 8.7% in ONL and 20.1% in INL compared with control eyes (p = 0.0033 and p < 0.0001 respectively). This could be explained by the fact that SGCD codifies the delta-sarcoglycan protein and there is evidence that showed a relationship between the absence of this protein with the activation of a cell proliferation signaling pathway. Finally, our results show that the delta-sarcoglycan protein could play an important role in the pathogenesis of the geographic atrophy. Moreover, there are promising perspectives for the systematic approach applied for cell image analysis, as an important tool to determine the nuclear density for assessing the progression of AMD.
AB - Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in industrialized countries. It is estimated that AMD affects at least 1 in 10 Hispanics. Previous reports have shown that AMD has multiple risk factors. Recently, we demonstrated that some genetic variants in the SGCD gene are involved in AMD developments, especially in early-stage (geographic atrophy, GA). Therefore, to evaluate the relationship between SGCD's absence and the loss of photoreceptors in GA, we worked with a genetically modified mouse model, SGCD deficient (Sgcd-/-) and a control mouse C57BL/6J (Sgcd+/+). First, we obtained hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) retina staining microscopic images. Then, we coarsely selected the outer and inner nuclear retinal layer (ONL and INL respectively) and finally, we applied an automatic nuclei segmentation to calculate the nuclear density in each region. Our results showed that Sgcd absence does not result in photoreceptor loss, on the contrary, it promotes an increment in nuclear density by 8.7% in ONL and 20.1% in INL compared with control eyes (p = 0.0033 and p < 0.0001 respectively). This could be explained by the fact that SGCD codifies the delta-sarcoglycan protein and there is evidence that showed a relationship between the absence of this protein with the activation of a cell proliferation signaling pathway. Finally, our results show that the delta-sarcoglycan protein could play an important role in the pathogenesis of the geographic atrophy. Moreover, there are promising perspectives for the systematic approach applied for cell image analysis, as an important tool to determine the nuclear density for assessing the progression of AMD.
KW - AMD
KW - Active contour
KW - Deltasarcoglycan
KW - Geographic atrophy
KW - Image segmentation
KW - Nuclei counting
KW - SGCD
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85081126409&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1117/12.2542061
DO - 10.1117/12.2542061
M3 - Contribución a la conferencia
AN - SCOPUS:85081126409
T3 - Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
BT - 15th International Symposium on Medical Information Processing and Analysis
A2 - Romero, Eduardo
A2 - Lepore, Natasha
A2 - Brieva, Jorge
PB - SPIE
T2 - 15th International Symposium on Medical Information Processing and Analysis, SIPAIM 2019
Y2 - 6 November 2019 through 8 November 2019
ER -